The Fluffy Problem
by effulgentcolors
Summary: Post-Tallahassee. Cora takes her revenge on Hook and he is forced to run to the hero team for help. Good thing Emma is a cat person.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh, I'm going to have fun paying you back, Captain."

One moment he was looking into Cora's menacing eyes and planning how to wipe the smug smile off her face and the next he was staring at a pair of boots.

In his many years Killian Jones had been in more than his fair share of fights, and as a result him and the floor were close friends rather than acquaintances, but the ground beneath him had never felt quite like it did at that moment. He had the feeling that he was on his hands and knees, and barefoot on top of that. No, scratch that, he was wearing socks. Weird socks. On both his hands and his feet. And looking up he could see an enormous Cora laughing at him. Wait, what? Oh, shit.

* * *

Killian was absolutely convinced that no one could blame him for the choice he had made. Cora had left him next to the beanstalk, walking away with a nasty giggle and a 'good luck surviving this, Captain'. He had quickly realized that he was a) small, b) in possession of paws c) (as a result of a)) easy prey for everything except ants and d) constantly choking on something that felt like a ball of cloth lodged in his throat. So really his options had been quite limited and seeing as he had no desire to die before getting to the infamous Storybrooke and killing Rumpelstiltskin he could see no fault in his decision to go in search of the Swan girl and her companions. On the plus side, few things were on that side right now, his sense of smell seemed heightened and he found tracking Emma quite effortless.

However, now that he had found her and the other three, he had absolutely no idea what his next move was. He figured that he couldn't stay in the bushes forever, least of all because something was tickling his… well, it felt like it was tickling his backside but not quite, it felt further away from it, yet it was definitely touching him. He had a feeling that he didn't want to examine that particular mystery just yet. Or ever.

_Fuck. Get it together, mate. You're Captain bloody Hook. Just go to the damn girl and demand she help you with this. She owes you!_

Killian moved out of the bushes , marched over to where Emma was sitting, resting and eyeing a fruit her mother had just offered her, and launched himself at her boot.

"What the hell?!" she jumped up, dropped her fruit and was about to kick him when she froze, eyes wide. "A kitten?"

Emma turned to Snow, surprise all over her face and even the barest hint of a smile.

"You have kittens in the forests here?"

_Kittens? What on earth was she going on about? … Oh God. Oh no. No, no, no. Hell no! That bloody witch! He was gonna rip her throat out! A cat?! She had turned him into a cat? Oh God! He had a tail._

"Actually no," Snow's voice drew his attention back to the women. "I've never seen a cat, let alone a kitten, in the forest."

"Yeah?" Emma drew her brows together and crouched down, reaching towards him. "Are you lost?"

Killian jumped back in surprise, eyeing her hands with suspicion. He had learned not to trust anyone with two hands. Or anyone whose hands were as big as his head.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you," Emma withdrew one hand, scrutinizing the kitten with a mix of worry and confusion. "You don't have to be afraid of us."

_Afraid? He was 300-years-old and had faced things she couldn't even imagine and she thought he was afraid of her? Like hell!_

The currently-fluffy pirate stepped forward, pushed Emma's hand away with his paw and, lifting his head, glared straight into her eyes, as if daring her to accuse him of fearing anything again.

Emma looked at the kitten in surprise, she could have sworn it was challenging her, though she didn't know what to. And did it just lift its eyebrow?! Wait, kittens didn't have eyebrows. She looked deep into its eyes, interest giving way to confusion then recognition and then absolute shock. The blonde jumped to her feet, taking a step back.

"Holy shit! That's Hook!"

"What?" Mulan stared at her in bewilderment, ready to abandon the whole kitten fiasco and keep going, they had been resting for too long anyway.

"Emma?" Snow looked between the black and white kitten and her daughter, worry and complete lack of understanding written all over her face.

Meanwhile, Killian had started jumping up and down and running in circles around Emma (to hell with it, at least he wasn't chasing his tail!), in an attempt to support her revelation.

"T-that's Hook! It is. I'm sure. Look at his eyes. Oh my God!" Emma bent down again, picking up the kitten and almost touching his nose to hers, staring intently into the blue pools she knew she would recognize anywhere. "See?"

She turned him in her hands so that Snow could take a better look at him.

"He is so annoyed with my manhandling him by the way," added Emma as an afterthought when she had twisted Killian around once more.

_How did you guess?! Put me down, Swan!_

"Ok, I'm putting you down now. Do not run away!" she set him on the ground, and was 99% sure he huffed in annoyance and shook his whole body, as if she was the one who probably had lice.

_Like I have anywhere else to go._

"Emma," Snow moved next to her and carefully put a hand on her shoulder, as if she was afraid that her daughter might not recognize her. "This is a kitten. It's not Hook. We left Hook at the beanstalk, remember? And you don't have to feel bad about it."

"That was 14 hours ago, Anton must have left him and… well, he must have gotten himself turned into a kitten somehow," seeing the look in Snow's eyes, she sighed in annoyance. "This is not me feeling guilty. I don't! I just- Ow! He scratched me! The bastard scratched me."

_Doesn't feel guilty now, does she? _

"Look, we don't have time for this. We need to go," Mulan waved her hand impatiently.

"Hook, now is the time for you to join in and make it so that I don't look like a crazy person," Emma looked pointedly at the kitten. "Or we are gonna leave you here."

_Fuck._

He didn't really believe that she was gonna leave him again. Not when he was 7 inches tall. But it would certainly make things easier if everyone else didn't think she was mental and he a freaking cat. Ok, time to put those new appendages to good use. He swept the ground with his tail and after a few tries managed to get his claws to form some sort of lines in the dust.

"Emma, we have to go," Snow was growing impatient too.

"Wait a second," the sheriff was staring at the kitten at her feet and as he jumped to the side she rolled her eyes even though the corners of her lips kept twitching upwards. They were barely recognizable but there was no denying the fact that a swan and a hook were drawn on the ground.

"Oh God!" Snow's hand flew to her mouth while Mulan groaned in exasperation.

"I told you!" Emma couldn't keep the smug look off her face and she was pretty sure the kitten next to her was wearing an identical one.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: THANK YOU! Thank you all so much for the positive response, I hope you keep enjoying this! :) In case you have missed it, I started this as a gifset on tumblr and when people seemed to like the idea turned it into a fic. All graphics connected to it are on tumblr under the kitty!killian tag. :D

* * *

Killian decided that cats had way too much pent-up energy as he jumped over the branch in front of him for the thirtieth time. He turned around, his tail whooshing behind him and reminding him of his coat (damn he missed his coat!), and jumped again. He was just about to repeat the performance when another branch was placed a few inches away from the one that had been entertaining him. He looked up and glared as well as he could at the blonde above him, which was apparently pretty well since she immediately raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Sorry!" Emma rolled her eyes, apparently the smaller he was, the more irritable. "Thought you were bored with just the one obstacle."

_Yes, Swan, my biggest problem in life right now is the lack of enough braches to make my fidgeting challenging._

"I know _I_'d prefer to be jumping over stuff right now," she muttered under her breath.

She glanced at Snow who was watching over Aurora. The princess had gone to sleep to meet Henry and ask him what they should do once they had both the ashes and the compass. Of course, currently, they had no idea how to get their hands on the ashes, but had realized that they didn't know what to do with them once they did. So they were waiting and she was growing more restless by the second. If _she_ was the one with a tail, she'd be biting it off right about now. Hook though seemed to be handling it quite well. Or as well as possible, she thought as he pushed the branches to the side and flopped down on his fluffy belly, which caused a cloud of dust to form around him and made him wrinkle his kitty nose as if he was about to sneeze. Ok, that was not fair.

Killian wiped his head around as an unfamiliar sound reached his newly enhanced ears. Emma had her hand over her mouth and was trying to look everywhere but at him as she stifled her giggles. Great, now _he_ was the entertainment.

_Laugh it up, luv! You have yet to feel the full power of my brand new claws._

Taking advantage of her attempt to avoid looking at him, he studied her carefully. Switching species didn't make reading her any harder. She was very much on edge but at the same time she seemed to enjoy his presence more than before. No, that wasn't right, she had enjoyed it on the beanstalk too but apparently his current inability to comment on her fondness of him made it easier for her to accept it. He supposed that he had also scored some major points by saving the group earlier. Turns out a heightened sense of smell had a lot of pluses. Like being able to smell the army of dead corpses coming your way well in advance (not a total plus if you were the one with the sensitive nose but he'd lived). He had had to jump in and out of the nearest bushes 3 times before managing to get his message across but in the end they had managed to hide in time for Cora's zombie band to pass them by. He didn't care for Aurora's 'supercat' nickname for him but it did beat being called 'kitty'.

He guessed that his hero antics were what had brought him some credit. That and the fact that Emma Swan was definitely a cat person. She grinned at almost every little thing he did and now she had reached giggling level. It made him wanna jump up and lick her face. Which in turn both freaked him out and aroused him. He was a cat with issues.

The princess woke up with a gasp, dragging his thought out of the gutter.

_That phrase takes on a whole new meaning when you're a feline._

"Aurora!" Emma immediately ran to her side. "Did you see Henry? Is he ok?"

"Yes, yes, he's fine. He was protected from the flames. He said we have to go to Lake Nostros once we have both the ashes and the compass. The lake's waters will revive the ashes and the compass will guide you," she said without taking a single breath, afraid that she would forget something if she paused for air.

"You mean Lake Nostos? But there's no water there anymore. The lake is dried up," Snow furrowed her brows in confusion.

"That's impossible," claimed Mulan. "Where there has been water once, there can be again. The lake sounds like the right destination. But we still don't have all we need."

"Yeah, planning time," Emma put her hands on her hips, looking around with determination. "How do we sneak in and get the ashes from Cora without her noticing?"

"_That_ is impossible," said Mulan. "She will notice us. Preparing for a fight is our only option."

Snow began to respond and Killian huffed in annoyance. They could debate over the best plan all day and even if he had been able to get a word in, they wouldn't have noticed him.

Two blue eyes suddenly lit up. _Wouldn't notice him._

He started desperately jumping up and down, trying to get Emma's attention. Right. Being small was apparently a double-edged sword. Moving forward, he repeatedly bumped his head into the blonde's foot. No reaction.

_Can cats get a bloody concussion? Ok, scratching time._

Killian was pretty sure Emma would kill him for what he was doing to her boots. If she ever noticed him, of course.

_Dammit, Swan! I have an idea! And quite a brilliant one, if I do say so myself._

Emma groaned in frustration and sat down, putting her head in her hands. Mulan didn't want to put Aurora in danger, her mom didn't want to put her in danger and she just wanted to get back to her son.

Using her sitting position to his advantage, Killian started reaching up to scratch her jeans-clad knees. But all he received was an absent-minded pat on the head. Normally that gesture would have resulted in him being both pissed off and just a little warm inside. As it was, it frustrated him to no end because he was still being ignored. His eyes were roaming over Emma's body (_note to self: ogle Swan more often_), choosing his next target, when they landed on her pocket. Well, since he couldn't 'tell', it was time to 'show'.

Emma lifted her head, ready to jump back in the argument when she heard the distinct sound of metal hitting the ground. All four girls looked over, seeing the magical compass on the ground, its chain dangling from the blue-eyed kitten's mouth.

"Hook, what are you doing?" Emma reached for the compass but the furry pirate jumped in front of her, patting the dust on the ground and then turning around to gesture with his little head towards the golden object.

"I don't understand," Emma pursed her lips and wrinkled her brow in confusion and exasperation, she was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes at her right now.

The kitten looked around and then took off towards the tree on whose roots Emma had been sitting. He patted the ground and then the tree and then ran back to the compass. And then he did the whole thing again. And again.

"Oook. Tree. What about it?"

_Lass, you're living up to your hair colour._

"You're insulting me in your head, aren't you?" she crossed her arms in front of her chest, an unamused expression taking over her face.

_Of course._ That _she figures out._

He patted the ground again, harder so that some dust rose in the air.

"Dust?"

Killian started jumping up and down, nodding enthusiastically.

"Ok, ok, dust… So what?"

He hung his head in defeat, banging it against the tree instead of patting it.

"Oh, oh, tree dust!" Emma's eyes lit up as the cat turned around and started nodding again. "Tree dust, wh-"

Killian had run back to the compass that was still lying on the ground, nudging it with his nose.

"The compass and THE ASHES!" Emma beamed at the kitten, proud of finally cracking his code, while he looked at her with what she was pretty sure was his 'about bloody time' expression. Well, excuse her for being a bit rusty on the communicating with animals front.

The pirate had grabbed the compass's chain with his teeth again and was dragging it towards her. Leaving it at her feet, he jumped up towards her pocket.

"Yeah, you stole it from me, you little-" Emma's eyed widen. "Oh! You wanna steal the ashes!"

Killian was jumping so high, he was starting to wonder whether cats could fly if they tried really really hard.

"Or he was sent here to steal the compass and bring it back to Cora all along, and made that up to cover getting caught," joined in Mulan, eyeing the kitten with mistrust.

Killian Jones hissed for the first time in his life. Emma Swan rolled her eyes for the millionth.

"That logic has one major flaw, you know?" countered Emma. "It involves Hook _willingly_ turning into a freaking cat."

"I still think we should get rid of it and then settle on a plan how to attack Cora."

"Get rid of it? Of _it_?" Emma's eyes were close to popping out of her head as she took a menacing step towards Mulan. "He's a person!"

Snow stepped towards her daughter, putting a hand on her shoulder and trying to catch her eye.

"Emma, relax. I believe this is not Cora trying to fool us again. He wouldn't have warned us about the zombies if it was, but Mulan has a right to be suspicious."

"She is not being suspicious, she wants to murder him! And she doesn't have a right 'cause so far I'm the only one who has gone back on our deal with Hook and he ended up as a freaking animal 'cause of it."

Emma backed away from them, picking up both the compass and the wide-eyed, black-and-white kitten, and started walking.

Killian was currently too damn shocked to react to her manhandling him.

_Did she just_ defend _me?_

"Where are we going?" demanded Snow as she ran after her daughter.

"To steal those ashes and go home."


	3. Chapter 3

Snow White put a hand to her head.

"Emma, you're making me dizzy," she looked at her daughter with a mixture of concern and confusion, and patted the grass next to her. "Come here and sit down."

Emma stopped her pacing and turned to face her mother, hands on her hips and a deep frown on her face.

"Two hours! I know a thing or two about breaking and entering and let me tell you - taking your time? Never a good thing!" Emma sighed in defeat at her mother's look and sat down.

"Are you worried that he gave us up or that he got caught?" Snow eyed her girl with interest.

Emma had been reluctant to let Hook go for the ashes alone. As had been Mulan. But Snow was pretty sure that their reasons were completely different. Currently, Mulan and Aurora had gone off in a different direction. The warrior had insisted on that as a precaution, in case Hook did betray them. If that were to happen, he wouldn't know where the other two women were and Snow would light the signal fire by her side, as a sign that they had been ambushed and needed help. The brunette was surprised her daughter's eyes were still in place with all the rolling they had been put through during all those preparations.

"You know I don't think he's working with Cora anymore," muttered Emma, looking down at her hands and ignoring the only reason left for her nervousness.

"OK," Snow nodded, deciding against pushing the other woman any further, pushing was never the answer with Emma. "So once we have the ashes, it should take us no more than five hours to get to Lake Nostos. Then we open the portal and we're home."

"Yeah. Only Hook might get caught, Cora might be gone, the lake might really have no water left or Rumpelstiltskin might have been wrong about it all along. But, yeah, other than that, we're set." Emma ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head in frustration.

"Mulan and Aurora are not coming with us," said Snow, trying to steer the blonde away from her bleak thoughts.

"No?"

"No. Aurora asked Henry to find out if there's a way to bring Philip back."

Emma looked up, anger blazing in her eyes.

"It's ok! She said he was perfectly fine when they were in the room. It's more dangerous for her really… but she is willing to risk it," Snow gave a sad knowing smile, she would have been too.

"How would Henry know?"

"Regina. Gold. Take your pick."

"How can I? Both options are so delightful," Emma's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I know. But we'll be home soon and you'd be able to watch over him, see for yourself that he is fine, and then everything will be ok," finished Snow with another nod and a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, right," Emma's smile was sarcastic. "So just you, me and a fluffier version of Captain Hook then."

"Emma…" Snow took a deep breath, approaching the subject carefully. "I don't think we should take Hook with us."

"What?" Emma looked at her mother as if she had just noticed that she had two heads.

"We still don't know what happened to him and taking him to Storybrooke where Rumpelstiltskin is…" Snow trailed off, hoping that her daughter would come to the same conclusion on her own.

No such luck.

"Snow, he is _this_ big," said Emma, holding her fingers just an inch away from each other. "We can't just leave him here And if we get back, it would be because of him. So you, of all people, wanna tell me that we're just gonna take what we need and then fly off into the sunset, or, you know, portal, without a second glance? Sorry but I'm not going along with that. Mulan and Aurora helped us and now Henry is gonna tell them how to save their prince. If Hook helps us too, we're taking him with us."

Snow opened her mouth to protest some more but Emma beat her to it.

"Mom, come on! I'm gonna clean after him, I promise," whined the blonde in a fake little girl's voice, a mischievous grin tugging on her lips.

Snow sighed in defeat. Of course Emma would use that m-word to make it impossible for her to say no. Plus, she was right. Leaving Hook_ again_ would be going against everything they were. She just knew that being who they were always brought trouble and heartache. Oh, well, how much trouble could a kitten cause?

* * *

Killian yawned.

_Bet Swan would've found that adorable._

He usually preferred devilishly handsome but he also preferred not being covered in fur so he was taking what he could get.

The fluffy captain had been waiting for almost an hour for Cora to show up. He had sneaked into the most comfortable-looking place so he had no doubt that she would come in sooner or later. The problem was that she was apparently going for later and that cats peed too often for his liking.

The wooden door opened with a creak and his target finally came into view.

_Oh, frustrated are we?_

He grinned at the obvious displeasure on Cora's face. That's what she got for trying to do without him. The woman sat in the only armchair and put two fingers to her brow, trying to message the headache away. Her eyes closed after a few seconds but Killian kept waiting. He wasn't a patient person by nature but 300 years would teach a man not to rush something important, especially something that he got only one shot at.

When he was absolutely sure she was asleep, the blue-eyed kitten crept forward. He stopped next to the chair and studied her robe, debating which side to climb on so that she wouldn't feel him. Slowly he started going up, carefully sinking his claws into the thick fabric. It was the first time he realized the full advantage of being small and light, and having all four paws. He had been pleasantly surprised that he wasn't missing one, once he had overcome the shock of being a freaking cat that is. Soon he reached his goal. Captain Hook was many things but observant was definitely on top of the list. He had needed to see that vial of sparkly dirt only once to note the little purple bag with golden lines Cora kept it in, as well as the exact place she tucked it in. Reaching in however he discovered something he hadn't anticipated. It was too damn heavy.

_Fuck._

There was no way he could carry that in his teeth while climbing back down, not without dropping it and breaking the vial. Sure the ashes with remain in the bag but the noise was sure to give him away.

_Dammit, Killian! Think! You're in the lion's den already, can't go back._

He looked down, judging the height.

_This is crazy and you know it. _

He looked up at Cora's sleeping face.

'_Just… just get your paws on that dust and keep hers off you, ok?' _

That had sounded a lot easier when Emma had been saying it with an uncertain half-smile on her face. Challenge accepted was all he had wanted to say.

_OK, Jones, this is it. Come on now, you're playing for the good guys, fate must be on your side._

He bit the little bag, pulling it towards him, then, closing his eyes in a silent prayer, opened his mouth. The bag slid down the skirts of Cora's robe and stopped next to the chair's leg around which they had pooled.

_YES! YES! Now that's what I ca-_

The fabric beneath his claws started to rip.

_Should have known this was going too well._

Cora's eyes moved behind her eyelids and Killian let himself slide down a lot quicker than he would have liked, the cloth he was holding onto ripping in different places. As soon as he felt the ground beneath his paws, he turned around, grabbed the purple bag in his mouth and started running.

A gust of wind sent a chill through Cora and she reached to cover the rip in her robe where she could feel the cold the most. Wait, rip? The witch was on her feet in a second. But it was a second too late.

* * *

Emma stopped digging to brush off the hair that had fallen in her eyes. They had been at it for the last half an hour and still not even a drop of water had been found. She looked behind her where Snow was elbows deep in sand and dirt and then to her left, unsuccessfully trying to hold back her snicker at the kitten digging around himself.

Killian turned around and tried to give Emma his most menacing look.

_You wanna do that by yourself, Swan?_

"If you could see yourself, you'd laugh too," pointed out Emma as she got back to digging. "You look like you desperately need to pee but refuse to do so before finding the perfect sand for the task."

Before Killian could come up with a good comeback, which he couldn't share, he felt something wet beneath his front paws. Moving with lightening speed, he started digging around the spot and sure enough – the lake still had a few drops to offer.

He glanced at Emma who had gone back to her own task and did the single most horrifying and embarrassing thing in his entire existence. He had been trying to keep his mouth tightly shut at all times, he had been so careful, but in the end the reflex to immediately call her attention to his victory proved to be his undoing. He meowed.

At least that got immediate results. Both women's heads wiped around to stare at him. Emma opened her mouth, the teasing comment written all over her face.

"You don't know how long I have been wai- Wait, did you find some?"

She scrambled to her feet, her mother following close behind her. Snow knelt down and felt the ground.

"It should work," she said with a smile, looking up at her daughter.

Killian was bouncing around, obviously proud of himself.

_Not too bad for a ball of fur, huh?_

"Yeah, yeah, you're the hero of the day," muttered Emma with a reluctant grin. "Let's go."

"Yes, I do plan on going but I believe you're in my way," came a familiar voice from behind her.

The trio turned around to look at Cora, standing a few feet away from them with an extended hand.

"My ashes, if you please."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Emma reached for her sword just as her mother readied her arrow.

"Oh, please," Cora laughed in their faces. "There would be no need for that. Captain, I believe you are tired of choking on hairballs?"

A hundred different things flashed through Killian's mind. Not few of them concerning how awful cat hair tasted.

_Well, hell, I just wanna walk on two legs again. _

Before Emma knew what was happening, Killian had snatched the purple bag dangling from her back pocket and was racing towards Cora.

"Hook!"

"Now aren't you a good kitten," cooed Cora in a fake tender voice and reached down, picking Killian up along with the desired object, and completely taking her attention off the women in front of her.

She took the bag out of his mouth but even before she made a move to open it she realized that it was too light to contain anything and her eyes immediately shifted to Snow White. The princess was scattering the ashes from the vial in her hand over the ground. The second they touched the wet soil a portal started to open in front of their eyes.

_Now if you have a tail for the rest of your life at least you will know it was your own choice, mate._

Cora's eyes widened in anger but before she had even made a move dangerously sharp claws left a bloody trail over the left side of her face, nearly taking out her eye in the process. The witch screamed and threw the kitten away from herself with all her strength.

Killian landed in a heap on the ground.

_That plan seemed a lot less painful in my head._

He looked up to see Snow holding the compass in her hand and reaching towards Emma. The blonde however was frozen, her eyes frantically shifting between Cora, who was approaching her, and the blue-eyed kitten that had yet to get to his feet.

_Shit! Get a move on, you idiot._

The voice in his head sounded suspiciously like Emma, which was probably why he managed to comply so quickly. But before he had ran even half the distance Cora was in front of the younger woman, sending her sword flying and deflecting Snow's arrow with a simple wave of her hand. She glanced back at him with an evil grin.

"Oh, you foolish girl!" she laughed, turning to Emma. "Don't you know? Love is weakness."

In the next second the witch's hand disappeared inside Emma's chest just as Killian reached her side. He didn't know what the feline equivalent of Snow's scream was but he was pretty sure it had come out of his mouth. He looked up, expecting Emma to drop next to him on the ground any second but she was just staring back at Cora, understanding dawning on her face as the older woman fruitlessly tried to rip out her heart.

"No, it's strength."

The last thing Cora felt was a blast of the most powerful magic she had ever encountered blowing her away from the girl in front of her.

The last thing Snow felt was her daughter grabbing her hand.

The last thing Killian felt was Emma's hand wrapping around his tail.

Emma decided that she had seen more than enough of the Enchanted Forest and jumped through the portal in front of her without a second thought, holding on tight to the only things she wanted to take with her.


	4. Chapter 4

There was banging on her door. Why on earth was there banging on her door at 6 in the morning on the day after she had returned from another world? Emma had thought that portal-hopping would win her at least 10 hours of sleep but apparently that was too much to ask for. She descended the stairs as quickly as possible, trying to get to the door before anyone else got sentenced to being awake at this hour. She looked around as she did so, searching for a particular black-and-white kitten and frowning when she didn't see him anywhere. He had disappeared the second they had walked in, Henry and David hadn't even managed to see him. And she was kinda looking forward to their expressions once she introduced Captain Hook, in all his fluffy glory. If she managed to find him, of course. Sure, he was small and could be basically anywhere but, if she had to be honest, she was surprised that he hadn't made himself at home in her bed last night. Room! Bedroom! She had expected him to try to take over her bed_room_, where he would have been totally unwelcome. God, she shouldn't be awake so early.

Emma rarely claimed that fate was working in her favour but last night had been an exception. Upon coming through the portal, holding a kitten in one hand, that was hanging by his tail and glaring at her for all the world to see(even if Snow looked at her as if she was crazy whenever she told her that he was glaring or smirking, like it wasn't _obvious_) she had encountered no welcoming committee. Apparently no one had expected them to find their way home so quickly. So she and Snow had managed to sneak inside their apartment, surprising Henry and David, and after a way-too-emotional reunion had decided to announce their return in the morning. Of course, she had expected the 'morning' to be more of an 'afternoon'.

"Good morning, Miss Swan," Gold greeted her without a smile as she opened the door.

Well, shit. That day was going downhill quicker than she had planned. So much for home sweet home.

"Some of us would refer to it more as the middle of the night but ok," she answered absent-mindedly as she tried to keep the door as slightly open as possible and put her reflexes on stand-by, expecting a living plush toy to fly at her unfortunate guest at any moment.

"Yes, well, you will excuse me but I have a pressing matter that requires the sheriff's attention."

"How did you even know the sheriff was back in town?" Emma finally focused her attention on the man in front of her, narrowing her eyes.

Hook must be rubbing off on her because she found herself liking the pawn shop owner even less than before.

"Oh, dearie, do you really believe that a portal can open in the middle of town and I wouldn't feel it. I'm deeply offended."

Emma decided that he was entirely too smug for 6 in the morning.

"Well, if you're so powerful," she crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you need my help for?"

"Because a crime has been committed," he said as if the whole situation was below him and had left a bitter taste in his mouth. "And as much as I would like to take care of it myself, I believe that's not the right way to go about it now, is it?"

Emma lifted an eyebrow, she wasn't fooled.

"And I also don't know who is behind it," admitted Gold.

Emma smirked at his annoyance at needing her but it quickly turned soar as she realized that now she really had to go check out Gold's problem. She grabbed her jacket on the way to the fridge where she left a note for Henry and her parents and as an afterthought pulled out the milk and filled a bowl, leaving it on the floor.

"You got a pet, Miss Swan?" inquired Gold, watching her every movement.

Emma glared at him.

_And you got a nose that you like to stick into everything._

"No," she said. "That… that's for Henry."

The man's eyebrows reached for his hairline.

"Long story. Long and boring," she said while forcing him out of the apartment and pulling the door closed behind her with one last look around and a confused frown on her face.

* * *

"Now I believe you understand why I felt the need to disturb you, sheriff."

Oh, yeah. Emma looked around. Gold's shop was absolutely trashed.

"What is more, my home looks exactly the same," he added, pursing his lips together in anger. "_Very _valuable things have been ruined, smashed, torn to pieces."

If she had been a cartoon character Emma knew that a light bulb would be dangling over her head right now.

"Yeah, I do, I see that this is very serious and I will start investigating immediately," she turned to Gold, nodding her head with a very determined expression plastered on her face, while she backed him towards the exit. "You should go though, since you haven't seen anything, I don't need to question you right away. I just need to gather clues and anything else that might help me figure out who did this."

"Now, let me be clear, Miss Swan. I don't want an investigation," said Gold, anger and frustration burning in his eyes. "I want a name."

"Well, for me to get to a name, there needs to be an investigation first," she said, going to close the shop's door in his face but his cane came to stop it from going all the way.

"You are to come to me when you figure out who dared to do this. Understood?"

For a moment Emma almost forgot that what she really needed was to get him out, her desire to let him know just where he could shove his orders building with every passing second. She took a deep breath, getting herself under control. She needed him out.

"Fine," she managed to hiss through her teeth.

The cane was removed, the door – slammed.

Emma whirled around, hands on her hips and a pissed off expression reserved for especially severe cases on her face.

"Hook!"

Getting no reply only drove her nearer to the edge.

"Hook!" she started walking around the shop. "I swear if you don't show your furry ass right this second, I'm getting Pongo and letting him deal with you!"

She walked into the back room and there he was. Peeing all over Gold's desk.

"I'm going to… to… to cut off your tail!"

Killian turned to face her. Partly embarrassed from being caught… doing stuff, and partly annoyed at her for being so mad at him. What had she expected? He had come here to exact his revenge and until he could do it properly he had every intention of doing it every other way possible.

_And I believe that you did quite enough damage to my tail yesterday, Swan._

"Do you realize that if he had caught you, you would have been severely lower down the food chain right now? Around the likes of a cockroach probably!" demanded Emma, hands still on her hips, trying to resist the urge to shake her finger at him.

_Yeah, so? _

"And no way were you coming anywhere near my apartment as a cockroach!"

_Oh, so you're worried you won't be able to have me around anymore, is that it, lass? Won't have anyone to pet? You should've just said something, I bet I'd like letting you scratch me all over._

"You do realize that I just _know_ that you're making some gross innuendo in your head right now, right? And you're a freaking kitten which doubles the wrongness factor."

Killian jumped off the desk and walked past her, head and tail up in the air, previous embarrassment completely forgotten.

"No, no, no," suddenly he felt himself swimming through the air and the next thing he knew he was staring at a beautiful pair of eyes, which belonged to the extremely exasperated woman holding him in her hands. "Where do you think you're going? If Gold sees you, he is gonna ask where you came from. With all the ripped clothes I bet his wardrobe is full of it won't take him long to connect the dots."

_Let him!_

Killian huffed and hissed, trying to wiggle out of her grasp. He had been having fun trashing everything Rumpelstiltskin owned, especially the pricey-looking things. Her being pissed at him put a damper on his enjoyment and he didn't like that even one bit. He had waited too long for this, he couldn't have anyone taking his attention off what was important. Let alone making him doubt if there wasn't something even more important.

_What do you care if she is mad, mate? And why does _she _care anyway?_

"I'm not letting you run off so stop wiggling! Ow!" she watched as a tickle of blood formed where he had just scratched her.

Killian's sensitive nose immediately alerted him to the damage and he froze, guilt shooting through him.

_Bloody hell, woman! Can't you just leave me to my own devices? What is it to you what I do?_

"Thanks!" yelled Emma, holding him under her left arm while she eyed the wound on her right hand.

It wasn't deep, her guess was that it wouldn't even scar. Before she could turn her attention back to the annoying furball in her arms though he reached forward and licked the small wound. She started and looked at him in surprise.

_Sorry, luv, all out of rum._

"It's fine. Cats scratch," he licked her hand one more time. "Ok, stop that, it's gross."

_Yeah, so gross you are blushing all over._

"Shut up!"

He meowed. Fuck, he was trying to steer clear from that damn sound but it was hard to express 'who me?' without producing it when you were a cat.

"I know things are going through that kitty brain of yours. Things that have no business there." Emma looked around. "I'm going to tell Gold that I couldn't find anything. He won't let it go but as long as you lay low for a week or so it should blow over. It looks like way too much damage for something as small as you to inflict anyway."

Killian wasn't sure how he should feel about that but he decided to take it as a compliment and reward his Swan by not complaining while she carried him back to her apartment.

On the way home Emma couldn't stop thinking that Henry was gonna wake up to one hell of a surprise. Way bigger than it looked.


	5. Chapter 5

The second Emma walked through the door Hook jumped out of her arms and soon enough found himself circling the bowl of milk still on the floor.

"Well, look at that, someone is hungry after wreaking havoc all night," she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, watching him sNiff at the bowl with mistrust.

Emma groaned, crouching down and looking in the kitten's way-too-blue-and-expressive eyes.

"It's milk," she said. "I believe you've heard of it. It's one of the things people who don't live on rum drink."

_Funny, luv._

"I know, I'm hilarious," she commented, grinning at the unamused look on his face.

_Well, here's to hoping she doesn't wanna poison me._

Killian scrunched up his little nose and took an experimental lick, shooting Emma a look the second his pink tongue was back in his mouth. She was biting her lip and grinning like an idiot, trying her best not to lose it completely. He huffed, looking pointedly at her.

_Don't need supervision, Swan._

Emma looked up and shook her head in exasperation at his antics.

"Whatever," she said, getting up and starting to prepare breakfast for the less fluffy occupants of the house. "I should just take a photo of this. Blackmail material for rainy days."

Killian looked up in confusion.

_What is a photo? _

He thought it couldn't be anything good for him, judging by the smugness on the blonde's face.

"You are way too picky for someone who licks himself."

_You saw that?!_

"Morning," Snow walked towards her daughter followed by Charming, both yawning and smiling at her. "Why are you already up?"

"Because someone couldn't keep his tail out of trouble long enough for me to get some sleep."

_Suits you right for abusing said tail._

Charming frowned in confusion and was just opening his mouth to question her when Henry ran down the stairs.

"Hey, mom!" he said, hugging her tight.

Emma laughed softly, stroking his hair.

"Hey, kid. Sleep well?"

"Yup and I'm starving. Can we have pancakes?" he said eagerly. "Not to be a tattletale but Gramps' breakfast skills extend only to pop-tarts."

"Hey! You said you liked those," claimed Charming indignantly.

"Suuure," drew out Henry. "But after four mornings in a row…"

Snow snored in amusement and Emma gave her father a sympathetic smile. She was just glad there had been someone to make Henry breakfast, even if it had constantly consisted of pop-tarts.

"Pancakes it is then," she said, turning to Henry. "But first I have a surprise."

Emma looked down at the kitten at her feet. She was surprised he had managed to keep quiet and go unnoticed this long but now she noticed that he didn't seem too eager to be in the spotlight.

For his part Killian had finished his milk and was not quite looking forward to the moment when he would have to be introduced, tail and all. Maybe he should have convinced Emma to just tell them that he was an ordinary cat. This was just not the first impression anyone should have of the fearsome Captain Hook, he thought, eyeing his paws and licking some milk off them.

"Ok, so this is gonna be a bit weird," warned Emma, glancing at her father and then settling her eyes on Henry. "But you gotta promise not to tell anyone for now, ok? It's top secret."

"Mom, you do realize that you just set the coolness meter like this high, right?" said Henry, putting his hand as far above his head as he could.

Emma gave a little laugh and reached down, picking Hook up and holding him so that he was facing her family.

"Meet Captain Hook."

"Oh my God! He is so cute!" Henry reached forward stopping himself in the last minute. "Can I?"

Emma looked down at the kitten in her hands, torn between the eagerness on her son's face and not knowing how Hook would react to being handled to a complete stranger.

He was sticking his tongue out. Kitty Hook was sticking out his tongue at her son.

Laughing, she handled the kitten to Henry. Watching in surprise at it reached up and licked his face. Henry giggled, burring his nose in its fur.

"So why did you name him Captain Hook?" he asked without looking up from the feline that was now carefully scrutinizing him.

Emma's eyebrows shot up. Of course, it was a lot more logical for her to call a cat that rather than… well, yeah. What had her life become?

"Um, Henry," Snow joined in, frowning a bit at the picture before her. "This IS Captain Hook. We met him in the Enchanted Forest and somehow he got turned into a cat."

"Wait, you're telling us, this is the_ real_ Captain Hook?" asked Charming in disbelief, peaking at the kitten in Henry's arms.

_Folks catch on fast, Swan._

Killian gave a little yelp as Henry put his nose against his own, much like Emma had done the first time she had recognized him, staring into his eyes with a huge grin on his face.

"This is so cool!" he declared, pulling the cat away from himself and smiling at it. "So you're a pirate."

Killian nodded.

"And you have a ship?"

Another nod.

"The Jolly Roger?"

_Kid's got his history right._

Killian nodded once more , getting amused by the boy's energetic questioning despite himself.

"Could you teach me how to sail?! 'Cause Gramps is teaching me to sword-fight and it will be so cool if I got taught swordsmanship by Prince Charming and shipsman…ship by Captain Hook!"

_Yeah, lad, right about now I can't sail much more than that bowl over there._

"Ok, ok, take a breath, kid," Emma grinned at her son. "And you might wanna put Hook down, he hasn't been too fond of my carrying him around."

Henry looked down at the kitten in his arms, a mischievious smile taking over his face.

"He seems fine to me. Maybe he just doesn't like you all that much, mom."

"Ah!" Emma gave a genuinely offended gasp. "Excuse me?"

_Haha, I like you, lad! Between the two of us I bet we can get your mom's knickers all twisted up._

Deciding to play along, Killian twisted around to poke his tongue out at Emma this time and then settled in Henry's arms, leisurely playing with the zipper of his hoodie.

"Oh, yeah?" said Emma, putting her hands on her waist. "Then you can be the one to hide him from Gold."

"Why do we have to do that?" asked Charming, nearing Henry to take a closer look at the kitten but apparently having trouble wrapping his mind around the whole story.

"The reason he wanted to come to Storybrooke in the first place was to exact revenge on Rumpelstiltskin. He is the one who took his hand and-" Emma swallowed her next words, deciding to keep some things between herself and Hook. "And that was the first thing he did. Kitty style. Gold's place and his shop are trashed and he demands I find the one responsible."

"Well, you can't just give it to him," said Henry, looking at his mother with reproach.

"Of course, I'm not gonna do that!"

"Though he was working with Cora at first," added Snow. She was still reluctant to trust the ball of fur in Henry's arms. And, no, being a dog person had nothing to do with it… she thought.

"He was," sighed Emma. "But then he helped as steal the ashes from her and diverted her till we opened the portal. So we took him along."

"Well, it's not like he can do that much damage as a kitten," mused Charming.

_Wanna bet?_

"Wanna bet?" said Emma, unknowingly mirroring Killian's thoughts.

"So we just gotta keep him away from Mr. Gold," said Henry cheerfully. "It's Saturday, I don't have school, we can spend today and tomorrow in, watching movies and stuff. Oh, oh, I'm gonna put on Peter Pan!"

_What? Trust me, lad, you want nothing to do with that bastard!_

"Well, Emma and I have to go let the rest of the town know we are alive," said Snow, looking at her daughter expectantly.

Emma frowned, her eyes shifting from her mother to her son, who was already on his knees in front of the TV, digging around for his Peter Pan DVD, and the little kitten, jumping around him and trying to poke its head in the DVD cabinet.

"But I promised Henry pancakes!" she pouted at her parents. Screw it, she was pulling out all the stops, she had no desire to face the world outside just then for some reason.

Snow eyed her with suspicion.

"Fine," she sighed. "Let's eat. But after that we're going straight to Granny's because I can't wait to see Red."

Emma immediately nodded, turning around to grab the eggs from the fridge.

"Well, as you learned, I'm no good with the breakfast-making so… " Charming quickly snuck out of the kitchen and plopped down on the couch next to a laughing Henry and a Killian who was fiercely hissing at his own portrayal in the animated movie.

"Men!" sighed Snow, going to help her daughter.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma closed the door behind herself and, leaning on it, closed her eyes and sighed in relief. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being welcome and having people to care and worry about her. Because she did! She had been searching for this her entire life and she still couldn't believe she had finally found it, found home. But she still felt a bit awkward, uncomfortable, a bit threatened even, when too much attention from too many people was focused on her. She guessed she wouldn't make a very good princess. Her parents were still at Granny's, talking and laughing, hugging and thanking everyone, enjoying being together again, reassuring the citizen of Storybrooke that all was well. But Henry had left nearly two hours ago, after giving one yawn too many, and she had finally been able to follow around midnight. She was touched by everyone's concern and by their happiness at their return but she had never been one for big gatherings and knew that with her parents in the center of attention she wouldn't be too missed at this hour.

Straightening up, she started for the kitchen to get herself a glass of water and stopped short, hand flying to her mouth. She stared at the picture before her for a few moments before silently going to a small drawer and trying to open it as noiselessly as possible. Once that was done, she took out the object she needed and crept towards the couch until she was standing directly next to it, looking at her sleeping son, one hand holding the remote, the other resting on top of the kitten sleeping soundly on his chest. It wasn't even for blackmail like she had threatened Hook earlier, she just couldn't imagine not taking a photo of the cutest moment in her entire life.

Click!

The flash went off and Hook jumped to his feet, looking wildly around, one paw raised in preparation to strike. The one that would have had his hook, if he had been in his human body, she noticed. Emma wasn't sure if he had registered her presence in the darkness because he turned around in the quickest circle and went towards Henry's face, stopping just a millimeter away from his mouth. Emma frowned, watching the immobile kitten in confusion, just then Henry exhaled, causing the pirate's whiskers to tremble and for him to move away, returning to scanning their surroundings. That's when he noticed Emma, who was the one frozen in place this time, the only thought running through her head that he had been checking if the boy was breathing. Her boy.

Killian frowned at Emma's gobsmacked expression and focused on the unknown device in her hand. He jumped off the boy's chest onto the couch, nearing her and sniffing at the silver object.

_What the hell?_

Emma shook her head, as if to clear it and sat down next to the blue-eyed kitten, showing him the photo. He gave her an annoyed look but somehow she knew that he liked it almost as much as she did.

_So this thing... creates portraits?_

"It's a camera," whispered Emma, wrinkling her nose, trying to come up with the best way to explain the device. "It captures the moment, saves it. Like a drawing, only instead of breaking out the brushes, I just press a button."

She showed him, the flash going off again and making him jump in the air a little. Emma laughed and he growled at her… as much as he could, which really wasn't much and was far from threatening, making Emma laugh even louder and also wake up Henry. She glanced at him, putting a finger to her lips and going to pick him up and carry him to bed.

Once Henry was tucked in, she headed to her bedroom to change and get ready for bed, only to be greeted with a little black-and-white fur ball in the middle of said bed. Just as she had predicted only a day later.

"You," she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are not sleeping here."

Killian jumped a few times on her bed. Comfy.

_Like hell I'm not! The captain always gets the best quarters and I have deemed yours the best, lass. Lucky you, you shall enjoy my company for the duration of my stay._

"No, no, nope," Emma shook her head, moving towards the bed. "No way!"

Killian stood his ground.

_What are you gonna do now, Swan? Put your hands on me and move me?_

"Take the suggestive look of your face, doesn't go with the whiskers."

_Oh, naughty! I might just take the feathers out of your pillows for that._

"You know I can throw you out of the window, right?"

_But you're not gonna 'cause I'm just _that _cute and innocent-looking._

"For your information, you're not _that_ adorable. I will totally kick your ass out of here, if you leave cat hair all over my pillow."

_No, you won't._

"Look, I'm going in the bathroom to brush my teeth and when I come out you better be nowhere to be seen."

Five minutes later Emma reentered her room and was greeted with a fluffy pirate pretending to be asleep. Still on her bed. She cleared her throat and one blue eye popped open, looking at her as if she was the annoying one, refusing to leave him in peace. They stood staring at each other for a few minutes before the blonde threw her arms in the air and went over to her wardrobe, taking out a blanket and settling it a couple of feet away from the bed.

"You can sleep here," she said, looking at him and apparently thinking herself very generous.

_You can sleep there, if you want, darling, I'm quite comfortable right where I am._

"I'm not letting you kick me out of my own bed, you furry bastard!" yelled Emma, for a moment forgetting that Henry was sleeping. "Shit!"

She went to check on him and upon returning just grabbed a t-shirt and started stripping out of her clothes. Suddenly both of Killian's eyes popped open and his tail started twitching as Emma's back was left completely bare to his gaze. He gulped.

_No way am I getting out of here now._

Emma put on her t-shirt and proceeded to step out of her jeans.

_Wonderful. Tease the kitten pirate some more, why don't you? Maybe she is hoping I will spontaneously combust and thus free her bed. Or choke on a hair ball. _

Emma turned around, the large white tee just barely covering her tights, tossed her clothes on the nearest chair and got under the covers, leaving Killian on top and lightly kicking him towards the end of the bed for good measure.

Getting an evil gleam in his eye, he crawled to the very edge and silently snuck under the blankets too.

Emma was just starting to drift off when she felt something lick her toe.

"Hook!" she jumped up, pulling the blanker over her head and looking around for the little kitten.

He was smirking at her. The bastard! Emma dove after him without a second thought but he was too small and too quick, and she spent the next ten minutes chasing him around under the blankets, getting more and more tangled up. Finally, she came up for air, finding herself at the other end of the bed, her limbs almost tied up in the covers, with a smug kitten winking at her from the other end, comfortably resting on her pillow.

Emma huffed, taking her time untangling herself before she went to resume her place. To his credit, Killian moved, vacating her pillow and making himself comfortable just below it.

"Fine," Emma turned her back to the kitten, only to have him jump over her and come to rest next to the arm .

_Better stop trying to run away, luv, I can play cat and mouse professionally now._

The woman rolled her eyes but didn't move.

After a few minutes Killian thought she had fallen asleep and was drifting off himself when her voice jolted him back to reality.

"Why did you check Henry's breathing when you woke up?"

Killian stiffened, focusing on the claws on his paw. He found it weird that he didn't scratch himself by accident all the time.

"I mean, who does that?" her voice held no accusation or taunting, it was laced with confusion, and just a hint of worry.

It was that hint that made him finally look up.

_Can't rightly _tell_ you now, can I, lass?_

"You dream of people dying," she whispered, understanding and a sort of heart-breaking sadness entering her gaze.

If he had seen pity, he would have been mad, but he didn't know what to do with genuine sadness, so he just looked back down, burying his nose in his own fur.

_As I said, quite perceptive._

"I dream of people leaving."

He didn't need to lift his head to know the look on her face but something made him do so anyway. Her eyes were closed.


	7. Chapter 7

Emma woke up a few minutes before sunrise, shaking her head in denial, unwilling to accept that she won't be getting any more rest that night. She was far from a sound sleeper and once she woke up, no matter the time, it was incredibly hard for her to go back to sleep. She guessed it went back to her days in the foster system, when it had never hurt to keep one eye on everyone around you, even while you were sleeping. Then her crime period hadn't much helped the issue. In jail she had all the time in the world to rest but there was a saying that only the guilty slept in prison and apparently she hadn't been one of them. And it was fair to say that being a bounty hunter messed up one's sleeping patterns beyond belief. Sadly, coming to Storybrooke hadn't altered what was so deeply rooted.

Feeling something warm against her stomach, Emma looked down to find a ball of lots and lots of black fur, gently rising and falling in time with her own breathing. Her lips twitched upwards. It had been longer than she cared to admit since she had last woken up with someone next to her. Was it weird that her_ someone_ was of the feline kind? Emma sighed and closed her eyes, deciding that she really didn't care. She was asleep again in mere seconds.

* * *

The next time Emma opened her eyes, or rather – one, very unhappy to be open, eye, the sun was already up and trying to fight its way through the curtains. But the true source of her state of consciousness was currently licking her ear.

"Oh my god! Cut that out or I'll serve you for breakfast. With maple syrup!" she swatted half-heartedly at the overactive kitten.

"Where do you find the energy to torment me all the time?"

_I always have energy for you, lass. So you can quit pretending you don't enjoy my brand of torment._

"Ok, listen," said Emma, grabbing the kitten and holding him in the air above her head. "Since you live here it's time you learned the traditions of our world and number one is that on Sunday we oversleep, ok? We roll around in bed and snuggle with the pillow, we don't get up until we really, really have to pee, we sometimes even have breakfast in bed."

Up until that moment Killian had just been hanging in her grasp, sticking his tongue out at her, but as soon as the word 'breakfast' left her mouth his eyes lit up and he started nodding enthusiastically.

"Oh!" Emma's eyed widened, slightly guilty. "I brought some cat food yesterday. The bag should still be next to the door so unless you need me to open that for you…"

Killian scoffed at the suggestion.

_Very funny, Swan. I can get my own food! Wait, cat food?! No, no, I'm not eating anything made for felines. No. Just… no._

He shook his head vigorously.

"What?" whined Emma. "What now?"

Killian just wrinkled his nose, making the cutest disgusted faces Emma had ever seen. She sat up, setting him down in her lap, giggling the entire time.

"What?" she laughed. "You want food, right?"

Nod.

_Yes, living creatures have been known to need that, Swan._

"Well, I said that I brought you some ca-"

Disgusted faces.

"Oooh!" the blonde crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So Captain Hook thinks himself above Whiskas, is that it?"

_Too right he does._

"Well, I'm sorry but that's all we have on the kitten menu."

Killian just stood, staring at her. Emma stared back.

"I'm not gonna cave, you know?"

_Sure you will._

"You can't always get your way just because you're fluffy and your eyes are so blue."

_Oh, someone likes my eyes now?_

They continued the staring contest for another five minutes.

"I'm not giving in this time, fuzzball. You think if you are persistent and annoying enough everything will just fall in your lap? Nu-uh. Try again."

_Trust me, darling, nothing in this life has ever just _fallen in my lap_. But I have found that being persistent does give results, if you can just be persistent enough._

Emma leaned her head back against the headboard. She'd bested him once, when he was way bigger too, she could do it again.

Killian flopped down on his belly, making himself comfortable.

_She underestimates a captain's desire to get others to do his bidding._

Emma closed her eyes, going so far as to try to go back to sleep, but she was actually quite well-rested now and, as always, Hook had gotten her too riled up already.

"OK," she sighed, looking down at him. "How about a deal? I get up, get you breakfast, and you will promise not to bug me… until noon? See, I'm being understanding, I know there's no way you can keep from annoying me a whole day."

The kitten seemed to mull the offer over before giving a nod and getting up, extending his right paw.

Emma grinned, shaking it with two fingers and jumping out of bed.

Killian smiled to himself.

_If I didn't know better, I'd think you were _trusting me_ to keep my word here, Swan._

* * *

Emma was helping Henry with his homework, trying to bring forward every memory of math that she had. There weren't many. Suddenly her mother's yelling reached her ears. She jumped up. Her parents had apparently come in quite some time after her last night because it was 1 pm and that was the first sound she had heard from them.

Snow came into her line of vision, holding up a shoe and waving it at Emma.

"Honey," she took a deep breath, trying her best not to let the frustration get to her. "Have you considered showing Hook the animal shelter?"

Before Emma could respond, her father came out too, a blue-eyed kitten perched on his shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Snow" he said, laughing despite himself. "It's just a knot."

"It's a sailor's knot!" she said through gritted teeth. "Every shoe with laces I own looks like this."

"Then wear something without laces," David shrugged, grabbing a packet of crackers out of a cupboard and eating a handful before giving one to the kitten still reclining on his shoulder.

"I'm surrounded by cat people," grumbled Snow, heading back to her wardrobe to find something wearable.

Emma followed her mother.

"I can't believe he managed to work his charm on your father too. Though Regina did mess up when she gave his cursed self a dog, he is a kitty man through and through," Snow kept mumbling in exasperation.

"Hey, Snow, I'm sorry, ok? I'll talk to Hook. This is my fault really. I told him to leave me alone for the day," Emma shook her head at her own naivety. "Should have known he'd just find someone else to mess with."

"Emma," Snow sighed. "This isn't about some knots, ok? I'm not mad. I just… don't you think we should be trying to find some way to turn Hook back into… well, Hook?"

Emma opened her mouth to respond and closed it again, glancing down at her feet and putting her hands in her back pockets.

"What is more," continued Snow, focused on trying to untie her laces and thus missing her daughter's discomfort. "Why hasn't _he_ demanded we help him get back to himself? I mean, I would think that he just couldn't tell us, but you two seem able to communicate anything to each other so…"

Snow finally looked up, frowning at seeing Emma staring intensely at the ground.

"Yeah," the blonde looked up, nodding her head a bit too hard. "Yeah, you're right. We'll just wait a few more days, just to be sure that Gold won't be a problem and the we'll go in research mode. Maybe go to the Blue Fairy or something, you know? Maybe Archie, since he was turned into a cricket or whatever."

"Right," replied Snow but she looked more confused and uncertain than a minute ago.

Meanwhile, similar thoughts were running through Killian's head. Why _hadn't_ he asked Emma to help him find out how to break the curse? Why hadn't he even explained to her that it was a curse yet?

_You've been around for more than three centuries, mate. A couple more days on four legs won't hurt anyone._

Emma came back, resuming her place next to Henry and leaning over his notebook. She shook her head, running a hand through her golden hair and biting her lip adorably, obviously debating whether or not to just let Snow help him.

_No, a couple more days won't hurt. Might even do you some good._


	8. Chapter 8

Killian snuck out of Henry's bedroom after the boy had fallen asleep. If he was to be honest with himself, he was enjoying the lad's company way more than he had expected, or maybe it was the other way around, he was surprised at how delighted the kid was to be in_ his_ company. He had spent the afternoon showing him and the prince how to make sailor's knots, after Charming had made Henry promise not to play tricks on Snow too, of course. Not too bad for a little hairball, if he did say so himself. Then he had watched as Henry made his grandfather teach him how to draw pirate ships and swords and castles. Killian really missed his ship. The Roger was way more beautiful than anything they had achieved. But he had at least made sure they got the colours right. He turned in a little circle, eyeing the last bit of yellow paint on his tail that he hadn't been able to get to. There were just certain things that he was above asking for help with, and washing his tail was one of them. Charming could laugh at him chasing his new appendage like a dog all he wanted, but the pirate was not letting them bathe him.

Now everyone had called it a night except for Emma, who was restlessly stirring something on the stove. Killian jumped up on the counter, waving his tail proudly despite everything and sniffing around.

"You get one hair in my bowls and I'm making you chase rats the next time you're hungry," threatened Emma without even looking in his direction, completely focused on whatever it was that she was making.

The pirate did not approve of being ignored. He crept around all the bowls and spoons scattered on the counter until he was almost stepping on the stove.

"Hey, hey," Emma finally took her eyes off her creation, using her elbow to push him back. "I don't want kitten flambé, ok?"

Killian jumped forward again anyways, licking the strange blue substance he had noticed on her hand.

"Hook! Get back, you're gonna catch on fire, dammit!" Emma now completely abandoned what she was doing to pick him up and set him on the ground, glaring at the weird faces he was pulling as a result of his taste test.

"You like it?" she said sarcastically, turning back to her pan.

_Emma! Emma, what the hell is that? That's the strangest thing I have ever tasted. And, trust me, I have had some strange things in my mouth. Heavens above, it's still moving around! Emma, what is that?!_

"It's Jell-O," explained Emma with her back to him, going into full nervous babble mode. "Henry is invited to a slumber party tomorrow night and he has to bring something, and, well, I don't really know how to make anything else, and I didn't want to ask Snow to do it. But, hey, kids like Jell-O, right?"

Killian was still trying to decide whether or not he had just accidentally poisoned himself.

_And to think that I almost tried that cat food she got me. If that's what people eat, who knows what they give to their cats._

"Right?"

_What now?_

He looked up to find a pair of anxious eyes staring back at him.

Shit! He hadn't been listening.

What was it she said – a slumber party? What was _that_? And how was he supposed to know if kids liked that bouncing blue stuff? He didn't have kids and he was pretty sure that he had just survived his very first and, hopefully, last encounter with the bouncy stuff.

He gave her a nod anyway and congratulated himself on a job well done when she smiled and went back to her concoction.

"You wanna pick the next colour?" she asked after a moment, while rummaging in a drawer above her head.

Well, as long as he didn't have to eat it.

* * *

Emma didn't even pretend to be surprised when she entered her bedroom that night and found that Killian had already made himself comfortable between the sheets. She just sighed and turned her back to him to change. Sneaking beneath the covers, she nudged him with her knee so that he wasn't positioned right in the middle of the bed.

"Hey, king of the mountain, mind making some space for the rest of us ordinary mortals?"

_Oh, luv, you should know that you're anything but ordinary._

"You have a weird look on your face," said Emma, studying him with caution. There was way too little mocking and cockiness in his gaze for her comfort.

The sheriff turned her attention to the ceiling and lay silent for a few moments before glancing back at the kitten next to her. He was staring in her direction but she was pretty sure that his mind was very far away.

"So Snow says we should start working on getting you back to your less furry self," she said at last, sounding a lot less enthusiastic than she had intended to.

_Figures. Her highness can't wait to have me out of her hair and out of her perfect little family._

"We have a few ideas," continued Emma a little louder after not receiving any sort of reaction. "But I think you should keep a low profile for a few more days."

_I'm a damn cat, Swan! Doesn't get any more low-profile than that now, does it?_

"Hey, it's not my fault you got yourself turned into a ball of fur!" said Emma indignantly at seeing his eyes flash and his expression turn sour.

_No. But it's your fault I'm still one. I could have had this over with at the damn lake. But, no, of course not! Killian decides to play the bloody hero. And now I'm playing the house pet and trying to- fuck,I don't even know what anymore!_

"You know, you haven't been jumping up and down, demanding to be restored to your pirate glory either," Emma pulled herself into a sitting position, glaring down into burning blue eyes. "You have made yourself quite comfortable right in the middle of my life. I'm surprised I can still take a shower without you popping in!"

OK, so she didn't _really_ mind him being in her life that much but to hell with it, she hated feeling guilty. And that was exactly what she was feeling right now. What if he _had _been asking for their help? What if he did hate choking on hair balls and drinking off bowls more than anything in the world? What if he was tired of walking around on four legs and she had just been refusing to see all that because… well, because she didn't want to. Because she wasn't sure how she was gonna deal with him being Captain Hook again. But she couldn't tell him any of that now, could she?

_Oh, is that so? Well, maybe, _princess_, you should have said something earlier. I wouldn't have stuck around that long, if I knew how much you loathed having to put up with my presence._

Killian got to his feet, throwing her a look that made Emma think he was gonna jump and scratch her on purpose this time. But he just went to the edge of the bed and jumped down, heading for the door. He wasn't sure how he was gonna get past the front one but he would be damned if he didn't figure it out.

_If she wants me out so badly, I'm not gonna _torture _her any longer._

"Killian."

He was a kitty step away from the door when she called after him. With as mad as he was, he was pretty sure there was nothing in the world she could have said to stop him from leaving. Except that. He froze, his ears twitching despite himself. Centuries. It had been centuries since he had last heard someone say that name. Yet it didn't sound strange on her lips, sounded quite right actually, like it was meant for her and her alone to use.

"Come back?" her voice was barely audible and in no way pleading, but it had that quality of resignation to it, as if she already knew that he wouldn't. It broke his heart just that little bit further because there were things that hadn't happened to her in quite some time too. If ever.

_You don't know me that well yet, lass._

He gave a sigh and turned around, starting his way back towards the bed, watching as her eyes widened just the tiniest bit, almost impossible to notice unless you were looking for it, which he was. He had taken her by surprise and he both loved and hated it.

He jumped back on the bed and soundlessly made his way to where her hands lay linked in her lap. He snuck right in between them, nudging her fingers with his head until she started petting him and scratching his ears.

She gave a little laugh but it was kind of choked and just like that the last of his anger melted away.

_Oh, Emma, how do you do this?_

"I just know," she mumbled, drawing little circles on his back. "That the second you're… back, you'd be off, chasing Gold and getting yourself into more trouble than you can handle."

He growled but it lacked menace. She was probably right after all. But what was he supposed to do? He had been preparing himself for this moment for the last 300 years. The moment when he would be able to fulfill his purpose, to achieve his one and only goal, to make all those bloody years count. Only, he knew that it wouldn't make his hand magically reappear and it wouldn't help him remember the exact way Milah's eyes had crinkled at the edges when she laughed. He had always known it wouldn't. But the moment he had put on his hook for the first time it had already been too late to turn back. There was simply nothing left to turn back to.

He wondered if it was the fact that his hook was missing that made it easier to forget what he was in Storybrooke for. Then he looked up into shining blue eyes and knew that his hook had nothing to do with it.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I just want to thank everyone for the amazing feedback! I appreciate each and every single word. Thank you for all the amazing ideas you have put forward and for all the fluffiness and love you have shown kitty!killian! 3

* * *

Emma stopped in the middle of the street, taking a deep breath and trying to overcome the urge to throw up for the tenth time that day. She put a hand to her forehead. Yup, she was running a fever alright. She sighed and continued on her way home, trying her best to hurry her pace. Her only consolation was that Henry was at a slumber party and her parents were meeting Ruby tonight for some long overdue catching up so chances were they would be at Granny's till morning. That guaranteed her solitude in wrestling with her fever. And a kitty Killian who, she supposed, would take one look at her and get out of the way. She knew that Snow would kill her, if she found out that she had been feeling sick and hadn't called her, but Emma just couldn't picture someone holding her hair back for her. No one had done it before and she didn't need anyone to start doing it now.

Finally reaching her door, Emma walked in, throwing her jacket to the side, without caring where it fell, and heading for the kitchen to make herself some tea. Her throat was already killing her and she could only guess how much worse it was going to get during the course of the night. She was just putting the teapot on when Killian bounced into the room, coming over to her and bumping her leg with his little head.

"Hey," her voice was hoarse and she sneezed as she knelt down to the kitten's eye level, making him take an instinctive step back. "Sorry."

She ran her hand over her nose, her eyebrows drawing together as she felt the world start to spin, and sat on the floor with her back to the kitchen island. Killian jumped in her lap and she started scratching him behind the ears without even realizing it. Her head was pounding and she was just about to get up and look for some pills when an unusual sound drew her attention to the fluffy pirate in her hands.

"Are you _purring_?" she asked in disbelief, laughing out loud even though the action brought tears to her eyes because it felt like someone was using a grader on the inside of her throat.

_Fuck._

Killian instantly got himself under control but it was already too late. The last of his pride had been shredded to pieces.

Emma saw him trying his hardest to restrain the sounds coming from him and only intensified her ministrations, giving her full attention to bringing pleasure to the furball in her hands.

_Oh, God! Swan, you're playing dirty._

He knew he was fighting a lost battle. With a resigned groan, he turned over, letting her scratch his white belly, and resumed his purring. Even if his whole crew had burst through the door in that moment, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself, not when her magical fingers were doing such magical things to him.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself because I feel like I'm about to die."

Killian opened his eyes, which he really didn't remember closing, and looked at his Swan. She did look unusually pale, her nose red and her eyes shining kind of unnaturally. His curiosity, not concern, nope, his _curiosity,_ won out and he let himself meow in question. Emma grinned down at him but her eyes were half-closed.

"I don't know," she whined a little. "I think I'm coming down with something."

She stood up to see if her tea was ready. And found out that feeling like she did and standing up too quickly were not mixable because in the next second she was running towards the bathroom, a confused kitten staring after her. Soon enough he heard her getting rid of everything she had eaten that day.

_Think you're already down with something, lass._

Killian frowned, looking around.

_Aha!_

He jumped on top of the kitchen island, knocking a bottle of water to the ground. Once down again, he took the cap between his teeth, trying really hard not to twist it, and started walking backwards, dragging the bottle in the direction Emma had ran in moments ago.

He found her sitting on the tiled floor next to the toilet, her head leaning on the wall behind her. He left the bottle next to her, nudging her right hand with his nose.

"Oh," Emma looked down and accepted the water, taking a small sip. "Thanks."

Her hand automatically settled on his back, stroking back and forth, but he was pretty sure the action was more for her benefit than his own. She stood motionless for a few minutes, only her hand moving through his fur, and he started to think that she had dozed off when suddenly her eyes popped open and she was frantically pushing him away from her before leaning over the toilet once more.

It was gonna be a long night.

* * *

An hour later Emma still hadn't moved from her position on the cold bathroom floor and had resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't make Killian leave. She was just gonna pretend that cats didn't have heightened senses in order to retain her sanity.

For his part, the pirate was getting more and more worried every time Emma's hand reached out for him because it was always hotter than before. He shook off her touch, laying his paw on her palm and then pulling it back quickly as if it had burned him. The blonde watched him for a few moments before realizing what he was trying to tell her. Right. The nausea wasn't her only problem. She put her hand to her forehead, trying to clear her mind long enough to figure out what she needed. Deciding to start with some good old aspirin, she tried to get to her feet only to find the world spinning even faster than before, her hand going to her stomach as pain shot through her. She dropped back down, breathing heavily. Killian meowed in what, to her, seemed like great distress. Great, now she was getting delusional.

_Dammit, Swan! Stay on your ass and tell me what to do!_

"Oh God!" Emma doubled over for the hundredth time but by now she had nothing in her stomach left to lose so she just shook with dry heaves.

Once she had her breathing under control, she looked at the black-and-white kitten that was nervously bouncing on his paws.

"OK, Killian," her voice was barely audible. "I need you to go in my room an- dammit, you can't open the drawer."

_Like hell I can't!_

He growled at her, nodding his head vigorously.

"You- OK, fine, in the last drawer of my nightstand there is a little white box , it says 'aspirin' on it."

Before she could say anything else, Killian shot out of the bathroom. Reaching his destination in record time he stood up on his back legs and grabbed the handle with his front paws. He gritted his teeth and tried to pull, only to lose his grip and fall on his back, gasping as the air was knocked out of him.

_Bloody hell! _

He tried again. And then again. And then scratched the drawer in frustration.

_Right. Of course. It's no harm staying a fucking furball for a few more days. It's aaall good. Idiot!_

Suddenly getting an idea he stood up again, grabbing the handle with his teeth this time and starting to pull.

_Fuck! That hurts._

He was pretty sure his jaw was about to break in half when the drawer gave a creak and slid open. He pulled harder anyway, making sure the crack was big enough for him to sneak in. Once inside he put his new night vision to use, locating the box Emma needed. Grabbing it in his teeth, ignoring how hard his jaw was throbbing, he ran back into the bathroom.

Emma's eyed were closed once more and she was simply concentrating on breathing in and out when she felt something bumping into her hand. She looked down into Killian's blue eyes.

"Oh my God! You're bleeding!" she picked him up, whipping away the blood in the corner of his mouth and trying to pray it open to see where it was coming from.

Killian, however, kept twisting around, trying to get out of her grasp, and nodding towards the pills on the floor.

"You're so stupid," murmured Emma, stroking his head. "I probably could have crawled there, you know?"

_What and take away the only chance I'll ever get to play your knight in shining… fur? Come on, Emma, with a girl like you a guy has to seize the moment. _

She put him down long enough to swallow two pills and then took him back into her arms, lying down on the tiles and waiting for the pills to work their magic enough for her to be able to reach her bed.

_Mind you, nothing more amazing than a woman who can fight her own battles. But I do have an ego to take care of, lass._

* * *

After aabout half an hour Emma finally managed to drag herself into her bedroom, sneaking under the covers and letting out a sigh of relief. Her nausea was almost gone but her temperature had been barely affected by the pills and Killian was restlessly pacing up and down on top of the covers.

"I'll be fine," whispered Emma because her throat wasn't capable of much else by that time. "This is not the first time I have been sick, you know? I've had way worse than this. And I've never had someone taking care of me before."

She gave him a tired smile but Killian just scoffed back at her. Yeah, right! He was taking _great_ care of her.

He thought about trying to dial Snow or the hospital.

_And what? Meow?!_

Then he thought about what he did when he was sick.

_Yeah, don't think rum is the answer this time, mate._

Then he got an idea. One that he guessed any cat would be absolutely appalled by.

_Good thing I'm not really one._

He jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom once again. He distinctly heart Emma going on about him not even leaving when she had been puking her guts out and running away _now_ but he was too focused on his mission.

A minute later a very wet kitten jumped on Emma's bed, rubbing his cold fur onto her hot skin.

"Oh God!" she moaned in approval, trying to hug him to herself but he evaded her.

Killian knew which bases he had to cover. Her forehead, her wrists, the back of her knees and her elbows, as well as her neck. He ran back and forth between her room and the sink a dozen times. Finally he decided that, even he didn't know for sure if shewas better, she certainly looked like it.

_I'll have you know, lass, I haven't made even one suggestive comment in my head through that whole process of getting you wet. Except this one._

Emma focused her gaze on him.

"You done running around?" she asked softly.

Killian rolled his eyes at her but nodded.

_Why, you're welcome, Swan._

In the next moment Emma was pulling him towards herself, she snuggled him just beneath her chin and sighed softly.

"Good," she murmured before finally falling asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma shifted nervously while Killian bounced around in excitement. She glanced at the clock. Yup, they had to leave now if they didn't want to be late for the meeting with Archie she had arranged.

_Emma, come on! Have a little faith, lass._

Emma sighed heavily and sat on the floor. To hell with it, Archie could wait ten minutes.

"I just have a bad feeling about this, ok?"

The kitten rolled its sea blue eyes at her.

"This isn't about letting you out, I swear. I just… do you really wanna be human again?" she said, only half-joking. "I mean, you don't need to worry about what to wear. And you did love the catnip! And… you have a tail."

_Mmm, catnip. Fuck, I really need to get out of this fur trap._

He glowered at her.

"Fine, fine," Emma raised her hands in mock surrender.

Logically she knew that she wasn't being fair. But at the same time she thought to hell with fair. Nothing in this life was fair, certainly not when it came to her. And this was just gonna be another example of that. Killian was going to turn back and be on his merry way. And the rub was that that wasn't even what worried her the most. She just couldn't overcome her need to keep him, to not let him out into a world that he knew almost nothing about. A world that had Rumpelstiltskin in it. She kept that to herself, of course. She knew how Killian would react if he found out that she was doubting the fearsome Captain Hook's ability to deal with anything life threw at him. Which she wasn't. She was just… worried. Hell, she was damn near certain that he had been worried about her too the other night so he couldn't act all superior with her about this. Plus, it made her feel a little better about her own confusing emotions.

Killian nudged her knee and gave her a look which by now she knew meant 'You're being silly, lass, so get off your ass and let's do the thing'. Nearly always 'the thing' was something stupid that she didn't wanna do. Which, of course, meant that he challenged her to do it. Which brought them to her doing 'the thing' against her better judgment. That's how Snow had ended up with half of her curtains missing.

"If you get run over by a car, I'm kicking your ass."

_Fair enough._

Emma rolled her eyes but got to her feet anyway.

"Let's go. Want a ride?" she grinned, offering him to jump on her shoulder.

_Funny. I'll take you up on that once I'm back to my impossibly handsome self. See how much you will be laughing then._

* * *

In retrospect Emma supposed it had been kinda her fault. Henry had been absolutely adamant when it came to coming with them. Shapeshifting was apparently 'wicked cool' and there was no way he was missing it. Killian, of course, had been no help. He took every opportunity to side with the boy against her. So when they neared Archie's office Emma wasn't surprised to see Henry waiting outside and Pongo running towards him. The same, however, couldn't be said about the kitten by her side. She wasn't sure if it was Killian's need to protect Henry or some innate mistrust and dislike towards dogs that drove him forward. Though she doubted many cats had the instinct to jump at a dog's back, dig their claws in and bite. Before she and Henry could jump in, Pongo shook Killian off of him and tried to back away only to have the cat intensify its attack.

"Pongo!" Archie emerged from his office and called for his pet, and the dog immediately hid behind his legs, peaking out at the hissing kitten.

So really Emma thought it was all her fault. She should have put Killian Jones on a leash the minute she met him.

"Hey, Killian, calm down!" said Henry approaching the kitten. "It's fine. Pongo is a friend."

_Right. A friend that was running towards you with his fangs bared._

"Henry, let's go inside, ok?" Emma glanced nervously around, she hadn't wanted Killian's name mentioned.

* * *

"So that's it, you've got nothing?" Emma huffed and finally sat down, stroking the kitten that was still glaring at Pongo from across the room.

"I'm sorry, Emma. But I willingly turned into a cricket. And, anyway, it was all the Blue Fairy's magic. She is the one you should go to," said Archie apologetically.

"Yeah, alright," agreed Emma but she was still reluctant to do so.

For some reason she didn't feel too comfortable dealing with the Blue Fairy. And she was even less trilled about letting more people in on Killian's fluffy problem.

_Swan, let's just go, this guy is of no use and the fucking dog is setting off every warning bell I have in my damn feline head._

He positioned himself even more firmly between Henry and Pongo. So what if he was being ridiculous? He didn't like the sight of anything with sharp teeth near his boy.

"Well, thanks anyway, Archie," said Emma standing up.

Henry grabbed Killian and followed suit.

"And, umm… sorry for Pongo," she mumbled, embarrassed. "Killian gets a little overprotective when he doesn't like someone. It's nothing personal _really_."

She stressed the last word, glaring at the kitten in Henry's arms, as if imploring him to apologize.

_Like hell._

Emma just sighed in defeat, the thought that other people couldn't read Killian like her and she could just lie about what he was thinking never even crossing her mind.

Once outside she looked at the already darkening sky.

"You know what?" she turned to her boys, well, boy and kitten. "I say we leave visiting Blue for tomorrow."

She let herself relax when both Killian and Henry nodded in agreement. However, her relief was short-lived.

"Oh, oh, can we stop at Granny's for some ice-cream?" Henry put on his best puppy dog eyes. "Please? I've wanted to make Killian try some since forever!"

"Fine," Emma looked her son in the eyes. "But for the duration of that little adventure, he is just a kitten, ok? Just your new pet. We can call it operation Kitten, if you want?"

_Oh, great, 'cause I feared this couldn't get any more ridiculous._

But Killian didn't mind so much when he saw the boy roll his eyes at his mother, grinning like it was Christmas morning. Yes, Henry had taken a great deal of time to explain all about Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving and all that stuff, putting great emphasis on the gift-giving parts.

"Mom, that's way too obvious. We can call it… operation Mermaid!"

Emma and Killian's eyebrows shot up simultaneously and Henry did his best not to laugh at them.

"Because he is Captain Hook? And he lived in Neverland?" blank stares, adults could be so dense sometimes. "And there are mermaids in Neverland?!"

Killian grinned.

_There sure are, lad. Quite deadly too, very hard to deal with. Unless they like you, of course. Few can resist this captain's charm._

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure Hook got along really well with the mermaids," muttered Emma under her breath.

_Why, Swan, if I didn't know better I'd say you were jealous._

"Let's go get that ice-cream and go home," she said, trying to avoid the all-too-familiar smug look on the kitten's face.

* * *

"So what's the deal with him?" whispered Ruby to Emma as she handled her a cup of hot chocolate.

"Henry?" asked Emma with a confused look on her face, glancing at her son, who was currently scooping up some strawberry ice-cream with Killian's spoon, absolutely delighted with experimenting to see which flavours were the pirate's favourite.

"No, not Henry," Ruby rolled her eyes. "The not-really-a-kitten with the gorgeous blue eyes."

Emma choked on her drink.

"What?!"

"Emma," Ruby laughed, handling the blonde a tissue. "Wolf here, remember? If he's a cat, I'm a puppy."

"Well…"

"Trust me, I'm no puppy."

"It's a really long story," said Emma, looking down at her chocolate.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Ruby. Suddenly she was just wondering if, wolf thing and all, the brunette could communicate with Killian, if she tried. Emma felt strangely unnerved by the possibility, like someone was stepping on her territory.

"Look," she looked up at the taller girl, wondering if she would match Killian in height in his human form and then shaking her head to clear that and all the other ridiculous thoughts from her head. "Can we keep this between us? I don't really want anyone to know."

"Sure, of course," Ruby nodded understandingly, her eyes lingering on the little furball that was jumping up and down on the counter, apparently having discovered his favourite frozen treat.

Well, Emma thought that look was downright inappropriate.

"OK, time to go!" she said, jumping up and urging Henry out of his seat and Killian off the counter.

"Emma," Ruby called after her the moment she opened the door.

The brunette grabbed a full tray and came out from behind the counter.

"I might have been wrong," she whispered teasingly when she passed the sheriff on her way to the tables. "You know, thrown off by your scent all over him."

The blonde struggled with closing her mouth all the way home. Her shock might have been part of the reason why she failed to notice the unfriendly pair of eyes watching them from the darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

Emma looked out of the window and shuddered. The worst storm she had witnessed in years was raging over Storybrooke. If she didn't know better she would've thought that the weather was siding up with her.

"Can you call to cancel on Mother Superior?" she asked Snow, trying her hardest not too sound too eager and too pleased with that particular turnout.

Judging by her mother's look, she wasn't all that successful.

"So what are we going to do?" said Charming, opening the fridge to check what kind of provisions they had. "Don't know about you, sheriff, but I'm already dreading the emergency calls."

"Oh, no, no" Emma groaned. "Here's to hoping that everyone just stays put and waits it out."

She cast her gaze outside once more.

"I don't think my swimming skills are up for that."

"OK, let's get this started!" Henry bounced into the room with Killian right behind him.

"Get what started?" said Emma, eyeing her son with suspicion.

"There's a storm! So we gotta all stay together, light up some candles and play board games while eating junk food," replied Henry without taking a single breath, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Emma turned on the lights.

"Kid, power's not even out yet," suddenly her eyes lit up too. "Though if it went out there would be no way for people to call to bother the sheriff."

Her parents gave her identical looks.

"Kidding, kidding!" she rolled her eyes, going over to Killian. "Looks like your days as a furball aren't exactly coming to a close."

_Better that than drowning outside while trying to get to some blue witch that might not even be able to help._

"I see that you're_ very_ upset about it," mocked Emma.

_Careful, Swan. Fur comes with claws._

Emma grinned at him. Strangely enough she was in a very good mood. She had dealt with her fair share of storms, both figurative and literal, and always alone. She was getting a kind of warm tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach at being holed up with her family while the storm lasted. It was nice, not having to stare out of the window of an empty room, watching the rain fall.

She flopped on the couch, the black-and-white kitten resting on her chest and smiled at her son.

"Since we haven't reached the candles and board games level yet how about some movies and popcorn?"

Henry's whole face lit up.

"Yes! A marathon! And we gotta pick something epic. Start off Killian's education on the classics," the boy immediately landed on his knees in front of the DVD collection.

_Oh, great. Let's educate the centuries old pirate._

"Hey!" said David with an offended tone. "We already watched all of Indiana Jones. I think he's way on his way with the classics."

_Well, ok, that _was _pretty great._

"When did yo-" started Emma only to be interrupted by her son.

"That's not good enough," he said rummaging around. "OK, here we go. Lord of the Rings?"

"No!" shouted Snow and Emma in union.

Charming opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it and closed it again, mouthing to Killian 'we'll see it later'.

"OK," Henry picked his next candidate. "Harry Potter?"

"Snow knows them all by heart," said Emma with a grin, her mother blushing but not denying her obsession.

"Home Alone?" the boy suggested hopefully.

Everyone gave him the same look. Well, except for Killian whose stare was as confused as ever.

_Do you people do anything with your lives besides watching other people have adventures inside your little black box? Some princes and princesses._

"I got it!" yelled Henry, jumping up and waving a DVD in the air triumphantly.

Everyone grinned in approval. Killian thought about braving the storm after all when the lad pulled five more DVDs out, stacking them on the coffee table.

* * *

Three bowls of popcorn were waiting to be devoured. Charming was sitting in the biggest armchair, Snow resting on his lap. Henry had scattered a million pillows on the floor and was lying on his belly, waving his feet in the air in excitement.

_Good thing the lad doesn't have a tail._

Emma was left to rule over the couch with a blue-eyed kitten snuggled next to her.

All was set when suddenly a debate broke out.

"It's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!" demanded Emma.

"No way!" argued David. "Everybody knows you watch it 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3."

"But you gotta go chronologically."

"But it ruins everything! All the plot twists."

"Mom, Gramps is right. You totally spoil 5, if you start with 1, 2 and 3."

Emma threw her hands in the air.

"Whatever!" she grabbed a bowl of popcorn in one hand, scratching Killian's back with the other. "I got my popcorn and my kitten, do what you like."

He wouldn't have admitted that even if his life depended on it but by now the pirate was getting a bit frightened. But he guessed he could live through that 'marathon' thing as long as Emma kept paying attention to all his sensitive spots.

_Oh, yeah. Behind the ears, lass. Dammit! I'm purring again._

* * *

_What?! Am I gonna have to put up with that Luke guy the whole time? That kid is annoying as hell!_

"Hush!" ordered Emma the hissing kitten. "He's the hero of the story."

_Of course, he is. What with the innocent face and empty head._

* * *

_Oh, I like that white-and-blue one!_

"R2D2 is the best!"

_The golden one is annoying though. Would be a lot more useful in the form of coins._

"Bet C3PO is wreaking havoc on your pirate-y instincts."

* * *

_Now that's more like it!_

"Figures you'd like the infuriating sex-on-legs scoundrel."

_Are you insinuating something, luv?_

* * *

_Emma, this lass reminds me of you. Look at her ordering everybody around._

"Yeah, Leia kicks ass. I wanted to dress like her every Halloween for years."

_I'd pay a C3PO or two to see that._

* * *

_Like hell! No way is the little bastard getting the girl. Look at this! It's like he is kissing his sister!_

Emma couldn't suppress her giggle.

* * *

_Oh, come on! You just gotta press and fire. Even I could do it. Paws and all! Come on! Time is running out! _

_Hell, this movie watching is stressful._

Emma petted him reassuringly.

* * *

_Well, what are you waiting for? Put on the next one!_

* * *

Emma looked around. Snow had gone to bed after the end of The Phantom Menace, Charming was hugging an empty bowl to his chest, fighting sleep and quickly losing the battle and Henry was probably dreaming of riding horses and sailing pirate ships, lying on a dozen pillows, covered with his favourite blanket.

She glanced down at Killian who was so tense that his tail was twitching and was as far from falling asleep as it was possible to be in 3 in the morning.

_Why is he doing all this? I was rooting for that guy! This isn't helping, man, get it together! You're gonna lose her like you lost your mum, let the darkness of what has been spoil what could be. You gotta stop living in the past and realize what you have now… It's time to move on._

Emma hated that part of the movie. It was why she had wanted to watch the original trilogy later. This one didn't have a happy ending and believe it or not Emma Swan had always loved movies with happy endings. Probably because she had never believed that her own story could have one.

The blonde drew the unsettled kitten closer to her. Maybe she had been wrong all along though.

* * *

"Rumpel?" Belle rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "What are you doing so late?"

"Nothing, Belle. Nothing you should worry about," he said without taking his eyes off his project. "Go to bed, I'd be right along."

Belle frowned in confusion but headed for the bedroom anyway. It was weird. He was usually spinning his straw into gold and just leaving it to pool around him but this time it looked to her like he was interwining the gold lines... to form some sort of a cube.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: This is kinda Emma-centred and not really fluffy... please, don't hate me too much!

* * *

In theory Emma Swan was working. She was observing her duties as sheriff, even the boring ones such as paperwork. She was not staring into space and biting the end of her pen. She was not visualizing a pair of impossibly blue eyes. All was good in theory. In fact… well, things were a bit different.

She glanced at the clock. Henry and Killian were supposed to pick her up in two hours so that they could move on to the next phase of Operation Mermaid. Emma still hated that name. However, she was pretty sure that the Blue Fairy would have answers. It was whether or not they would like them that worried her.

Once she had finally gone to bed last night, she had been tormented by nightmares. She had kept tossing and crying out in her sleep, waking Killian every hour or so. Things were not good if him snuggling into her shoulder and purring softly failed to put her to sleep. She hated dreaming, she really did. Her dreams were always a jumble of images, mostly objects, that made no sense to her. Last night she had kept seeing a pyramid broken in two, killian's hook, her swan necklace, an old spinning wheel, a magic bean and gold. Lots and lots of flashing gold, glistening in an unnatural and threatening way.

She curled her fingers around the old keychain Neal had given her, hesitating a moment before tearing it off. It was a bit too late to keep herself from trusting people. She trusted Henry with all her heart. How could she not when he had so much faith in her? She trusted her parents. She still had her moments of shock and awkwardness and indecision when it came to them but she had wanted that family for so long that her walls were unable to resist the joy filling her heart when they were together now. And, scariest of all, she was pretty damn sure she was starting to trust Killian too. Just like with Henry, it was hard not to. It was impossible for her to turn a blind eye to how much he cared about Henry, how well he got along with her dad, how he was getting even under Snow's skin. He had been by her side too long now. Not just because he had to but because he wanted to. Emma Swan knew that she wasn't the easiest person to deal with, especially when she was defensive, uncertain, angry, sick, frustrated or scared. And somehow Killian had managed to survive all of those. She considered it quite the accomplishment. It made her feel like there was nothing that could pry him away from her. And the more time passed, the less she wanted there to be.

Suddenly Emma wanted Killian back to his human self very much. A twisted and bruised little piece of her heart demanded that last test, wanted to know if he would still chose her once he could have anything else. And then, of course, she kind of missed hearing his compliments and innuendoes rather than having to read them in his eyes. Though she thought she had nearly perfected that particular skill by now. She felt like she was ready to have another shot at his personal-space invading ways. Not that he wasn't invading her bed every night in his current form. Out of nowhere, that little fact made Emma blush for the first time. It wasn't like they were involved or anything. He was a kitten for crying out loud! But she couldn't quite picture not having him next to her when she went to bed tonight or the night after that. And she was finding it harder and harder not to want him to take up more space in said bed.

"Mom! Mom!" Henry burst through the door, making her jump and forcing her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"Henry, what's going on? You are early," she took one look at his frightened face and his breathless state and every thought except one flew out of her mind. "What's wrong?!"

Henry took a deep breath and then another one. His eyes filled with tears and Emma jumped up, going to him and pulling him into a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be ok. Whatever it is we will fix it, kid. Just tell me."

"Killian is gone," he said in a loud whisper, as if afraid that saying the words will make them more true.

Emma felt like the next ten seconds before Henry continued talking were among the longest in her life. She knew this feeling. She was falling and she knew that she was going to hit the ground and pretty hard at that. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst was that she just kept on falling with only darkness ahead. There wasn't even any ground to hit. Just an endless loss of control. Gravity pulling you like you were a rabid dog and darkness squeezing the air out of your lungs. She remembered people she had called 'mom' and 'dad' telling her that they 'had to let her go', a pair of handcuffs snapping around her wrists, a nurse not letting her hold her own baby, Henry lying in a hospital bed with no heartbeat.

She never realized that he might be waiting for a response.

"We were at home," continued the kid, wiping at his nose and squeezing her hand unconsciously. "but we were so bored. A-and I suggested we go to the docks, check out the boats there."

Henry stopped and Emma probably would have sensed the notes of guilt in his voice if her mind hadn't been racing a hundred miles in front of his words, taking a turn and then running back to take another, losing track of what was actually true and what was not, desperate for an option that didn't let the darkness all the way in.

"And Killian, of course, loved the idea. And… and we went and we were g-gonna come straight here afterwards."

Emma's train of thought grasped onto that scenario. Picturing Henry and the pirate kitten running through her door, toppling over the coat hanger in the process and disarming her annoyance with large pseudo innocent eyes. Illusions like that were so quick to emerge and even quicker to shatter into pieces.

"Leroy was there, I think he was working on his boat. H-he called me and I went to talk to him. It was just for a minute. I swear, it was no more than a minute, mom," he repeated desperately, a tear finally escaping and rolling down his cheek. "B-but when I turned around he was gone. It was just a minute, Emma. And he was gone."

The sheriff closed her eyes for the briefest second, pushing her emotions behind solid bars and gathering her self-control. In the next moment she was forcing on a smile that didn't reach her eyes and whipping away her son's tears with a just slightly unsteady hand.

"Henry, look at me," she crouched down to his level. "We will find him. Searching Storybrooke is a piece of cake. I've found people in cities way way bigger than this one. And Killian is not exactly known for being low-key, yeah?"

Henry managed a watery smile though with him Emma never knew if it wasn't more for her benefit than anything else. God, she loved that kid.

"And you know what? He can be waiting at the apartment right now. It's not like he doesn't know the way. Come on, we start there," she grabbed her jacket, squeezing the boy's shoulder as they exited the station. "It's gonna be ok, you'll see."

Less than ten minutes later Emma pushed the door to their apartment open. Both her and Henry unconsciously holding their breath.

Complete silence greeted them. The boy started running all over the place, calling for the black-and-white kitten. But Emma already knew the truth. Tonight she wouldn't have to picture what it was like to go to bed without Killian next to her.

* * *

_Son of a bitch! Emma? Emma, my head feels like those bloody soccer guys your dad likes so much kicked it around for 90 minutes. And I think I'm spinning. Or the world is spinning. Or you are spinning me. Anyway, it's making me wanna choke out more than a furball. Fucking hell! I wanna sink my hook into something! Or, you know, my claws. Just so I can get a freaking idea of which way is up and which is down. This must be what people who get seasick feel. Only worse. Fuck, can someone turn off the damn lights, I'm nearly blinded on top of everything else! Emma? … Emma?_


	13. Chapter 13

Emma rubbed her tired eyes, staring down at her second cup of coffee. It was 6:30, she was up and she had slept all of two hours during the night. First she couldn't go to sleep because she was worried and a million different scenarios about what had happened to Killian were running through her head. Then when she finally managed to doze off, she was plagued by nightmares. Horrible, horrible nightmares that made no sense and attacked her with the screams of a man whose voice she hadn't heard in weeks. Once she woke up she started reaching for Killian only to be met with cold sheets and then everything would come back to her and she was stuck not being able to fall asleep again.

She had finally given up around 6 am and went to make herself some coffee. She had a long day ahead of her and, if the start was anything to go b,y it was not going to be a good one.

"Hey," came Charming's voice, making her jump in surprise.

"Oh, hey! I-I didn't expect to have to share the coffee with anyone for a while," she said.

"Yeah, well, I'm prepared to appeal to your generous side, " he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes much like she had done. "What time is it?"

Emma gave him a tired smile.

"It's early."

Her father looked around, a bit of the light going out of his eyes.

"You think he just left?" he asked, glancing at her with concern.

Well, at least she could count on him to get straight to the point. He didn't exactly have Snow's talent of easing people in but she found that comforting right now. However, it did leave her having to answer the million dollar question.

Did she believe that he had up and left her like everyone else? Did she think he had miraculously returned to his human form and just walked away without a second thought? Did she think he had finally grown tired of being petted and kept under lock? Having to put up with her and Henry and whatever they came up with? She wanted to say no. She desperately wanted to be able to say no. But she supposed there was a part of her that would simply never allow something like this. However, of one thing she was absolutely sure. She knew this as she knew that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. Killian would never just leave Henry alone in the middle of the docks. No matter what she thought, what options she considered and what results she pictured, she could not imagine this happening.

"No," she replied after a long pause, looking her father in the eyes, her own slightly wide with shock and realization. "No, I don't."

Charming smiled at her, support and approval radiating off of him. Apparently she wasn't alone on that.

"Then we'll figure this out," he said confidently, reaching over and squeezing her hand. "I promise, Emma."

The blonde looked down at their joined hands and squeezed back, and for the first time in her life she truly realized that she had a father. One that wanted her, wanted to be there for her and was never gonna let her face anything alone again.

The phone rang, startling her. She frowned. Who called at this time? Last time she had to deal with someone this early… Her eyes widen and she grabbed the receiver.

"Hello?"

Charming watched as her eyes narrowed, her hand forming a powerful fist.

"Morning," her voice was like acid. "Why don't you come to me? I'm a sheriff, not a doctor, I don't do house calls… Oh, yeah, well-"

She stared at the receiver in obvious shock at being hanged up on, her whole posture screaming anger.

"Who was it?" asked Charming with a frown.

Emma thought her next word answered a lot more than just that one question.

"Rumpelstiltskin."

* * *

Killian shook his head. The worst of his headache had worn off but he was still disorientated as hell. The last thing he remembered was Henry running towards that dwarf and then – darkness. So he had immediately started looking for the boy. He had even gone so far as to meow for the last half an hour. Nothing.

_If something happened to Henry…_

The lad was Killian's main objective and thus getting out so that he could find him was his main goal. He hadn't had much luck though. After adjusting to the blinding light that was attacking him from all sides, he had realized that he was behind bars. Which looked like they were made of sun rays.

_Well, isn't that just lovely._

He could practically smell the magic, feel it floating in the air all around him. And to make matters worse, everything else was pitch black. He had quickly learned that touching the 'rays' was not a good idea since they were hot as hell and made it necessary for him to keep his paws in the spaces between them. They also seemed to have no end and no beginning, they just ran on and on, like they were all one long line, twisted around to form his prison.

_Yup, definitely magic. Jones, you're fucked._

Not that it mattered. He had been in worse situations and survived. He always got away one way or another. And if his guess was correct and the Dark One was behind all this… well, he would enjoying leaving as much destruction as possible on his way out of this.

_Of course, there's the small issue of you being a damn cat, mate!_

Yeah, that kinda put a damper on most of his plans. What was more, there was no one around. This confused him the most. If it was all Rumpelstiltskin's doing and he had somehow found out about the pirate's furry situation, why wasn't he dead? Why wasn't the bloody coward here, taunting him and threatening him and everyone he cared about? His blood ran cold at that thought.

_Not again._

Forgetting himself for a moment he slammed into the golden bars furiously. He hissed, pulling back as they burned him once more.

_Fuck! I should have gone after the bastard when I had the chance. Sliced his throat with my claws while he was sleeping! To hell with honourable! To hell with everything if Emma or Henry were gonna be the ones paying for it._

He groaned in frustration, dropping his head. He just hoped Henry was safe. And he wasn't gonna protest too much, if Emma decided to play his knight in shining armor some time soon.

* * *

The door to Gold's shop flew open, banging against the wall.

"Please, Miss Swan, make yourself at home," said the man behind the counter tersely.

"What do you want?" Emma practically growled at him.

"My, my, you really aren't a morning person, are you, dearie?"

"Depends on who wakes me up," she spat at him, not intending to let him know that she hadn't slept all night, probably because of him. "Now. What. Do. You. Want?"

"You own me a favour, if I remember correctly," he said, looking her challengingly in the eyes. "I'm cashing it in."

Emma was beyond confused and frustrated but she wasn't going to say no to having that particular debt off her back. She pulled herself together, putting on her best pokerface.

"And so I repeat. What do you want?" she asked once more, glaring at the man in front of her.

"I want you to come with me to New York. I want you to help me find my son," said Gold with an even tone, as if he was asking her to help him carry his groceries.

The sheriff's eyes widened in surprise for a moment. Then she composed herself. Her thoughts were racing again. Was it possible that he had nothing to do with Killian's disappearance?

"I'm not leaving town," she responded with a tone of finality.

"Yes, you are," Rumpel smirked darkly at her, a sort of transformation visible in his eyes, his tone becoming more sinister by the second. "You see, I was afraid that you would try to avoid having to pay your debt. So I made sure to… insure myself."

Emma's eyes narrowed, her stomach tightening, her heartbeat speeding up, her blood screaming in fury.

"Say, Miss Swan, aren't you missing something?" purred Gold with obvious satisfaction.

Emma was almost trembling with the desire to reach over and strangle the imp. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to cause him pain. Lots and lots of pain.

"I believe you should go. You have a trip to prepare for."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I believe this is coming to an end soon, beans. Thank you so much for all the support and positive energy.

Killian ended his sixtieth circuit of the golden cage. No cracks, no flaws, no way out. He restrained himself from banging his head against the burning bars.

_Please, let the lad be ok._

If he had to be honest, in his heart, he knew that the boy must be safe and sound. He just couldn't picture something horrible happening to Henry or Emma and him not feeling it. At the same time, he knew that was stupid and that he couldn't count on something intangible like that. He had to be sure, he had to _know_, he had to see it with his damn kitty eyes.

_Come on, Emma. I know you can figure this out. I believe in you, lass._

Pissed off did not even begin to describe how he was feeling but suddenly he felt a wave of rage that did not feel like it belong to him. Hell, he was going crazy and he didn't care.

_That's what I'm talking about! You get good and mad, luv, and you can take on anyone and anything._

But he hadn't even allowed a proud grin to split his face when his thoughts took a different turn.

_You can't face Rumpelstiltskin alone. The bastard has tricks you will never see coming. No morals, no heart. A coward with an unquenchable lust for power._

He shook his head.

_Great, just great, I'm talking to an imaginary girl. I've gone completely crackpot._

* * *

Emma stared at the man in front of her without blinking. She had to clear her head, play her own game, stick to her own plan.

"I'm not leaving just like that," she said, her voice like steel.

"Of course not," replied Gold with a sour expression. "Why make life easier for all of us?"

"That's rich coming from you," she started raising her voice but managed to get a hold on herself.

"The sooner you fulfill your end of the deal, dearie, the sooner you can have your very special pet back," he said with a taunting smirk.

Emma pursed her lips. Something wasn't right here. He wasn't playing the Killian card nearly as much as she had thought he would. He wasn't threatening to kill him, telling her how she should be grateful he was even offering her the chance to save him. It was as if he wasn't… he wasn't aware what he had. It suddenly hit her. Rumpel didn't know.

"And why," she began carefully, trying to keep her voice neutral. "exactly do you think it's so special?"

"Come on now," he gave her a pseudo offended look. "You're underestimating me, Miss Swan. I am, after all, the Dark One."

He let that statement hang for a few moments. Apparently wanting to intimidate her and remind her that she was at a disadvantage, in more ways than one. Emma didn't even flinch.

"The second I saw your little pet, I knew that was not a simple cat. I know magic, dearie. And everything about that little ball of fur screamed magical. So don't waste your breath trying to convince me that this is just an ordinary kitten."

He didn't know. Emma had to concentrate her whole being on keeping the smile of her face. He really didn't know! He had sensed that the kitten was special but he had no idea that it was the pirate who had been chasing him for centuries. And Emma had absolutely no intension of sharing that piece of information with him.

"I want to see it," she demanded, careful not to use 'him' and give Gold even the smallest hint.

"No, no," he smiled, shaking his finger at her as if she was a naughty child. "You do not really think I would keep something that… _precious_ here, do you?"

"And you do not really expect me to just jump through your hoops without any proof that you actually possess something I want, do _you_?" her bright eyes burned into his.

"I have a friend, well," he gave a mocking smile. "More of an acquaintance really, keeping it for me."

Emma didn't need anything else. There were exactly two people in this whole town that Gold was on speaking terms with. One was Belle, who the sheriff highly doubted would agree to keep a helpless and seemingly harmless animal under lock for him. The other… she was sure they would figure it out. With the tiniest trace of a smirk on her lips Emma finally shut the mobile phone in her coat pocket.

* * *

Giving up on trying to see something, Killian decided to rely on his other senses.

_It's high time being a fucking feline paid off._

His ears twitched from time to time as he listened carefully. After ten minutes he was pretty sure that he was in a basement and there was at least one rat scurrying around somewhere in the distance. Not much help that.

_Not that hungry yet._

Next he tried putting his nose to work. Dust, lots and lots of dust. Some paint. Firewood. Suddenly he froze, sniffing again and again. Was that apple pie?

* * *

Charming hung up his phone when he finally heard the dial tone on the other side. He looked down at Henry. The boy had a devastated expression on his face but he quickly shook it off, swallowing his disappointment and replacing it with determination. Mission Fluffy was still on.

"Regina?" he said with only the slightest tremor in his voice.

"Regina," nodded Charming, grabbing his coat.

* * *

"Now I believe you really should go pack, sheriff," sneer Gold, trying to regain control of the situation, obviously impatient to be rid of her and frustrated that his threats hadn't had nearly as much of an impact as he had anticipated.

Was the damn cat not as special as he had originally thought?

"No," said Emma, moving closer to the counter which was the only thing separating them. "I believe it's time for you to shut up and listen to what I have to say."

The man drew back the slightest bit, more in shock than anything else.

"You crossed the line. You took something of mine. Something I treasure very, very much. You wanted that favour? You should have just come to me and said so. You didn't. You went after someone I care about," she knew she had slipped but by now she was too angry to care. "Bad form. Very bad form."

Gold's eyes widened, staring at her in disbelief.

"If you think-" he started with a dangerous tone.

"No, no," Emma cut him off. "I'm talking now."

The man opened his mouth but the blonde slammed her hand on the counter, cutting him off.

"Here's how this is going to work," she said, bringing her other hand into view too, laying down her gun on the table and keeping her hold on it. "I'm not going to go anywhere with you. My debt to you is paid. How did I pay it? By being extremely magnanimous and forgiving you for this whole thing. So now we'll go our separate ways and you are not gonna bother me or mine again. Ever."

Rumpelstiltskin stood frozen for a few seconds, staring at the woman in front of him with a mixture of disbelief and anger. And the tiniest bit of respect.

"No one breaks deals with me, dearie," he said finally, leaning forward too. "And no one gets to decide how they are going to pay me back. That's up to me. And you are going to come to New York with me."

"Or what?" she said, her voice low, the grip on her weapon tightening, twisting it just the slightest bit so that it was pointing at him.

"Please," he sneered at her. "This cannot kill me. And even if it could, you don't have it in you to pull that trigger, sheriff"

"I admit, I'm not the fastest when it comes to all this magical crap," said Emma conversationally. "So correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't magic work a bit differently around here? Say, if your brain happened to get scrambled all over that wall behind you, would you be able to magic it back together?"

Rumpel didn't flinch but his smirk was entirely gone.

"You think about that," said the blonde with a grim smile and a nod, turning her back to him and heading for the door.

She was almost outside when she turned her head around so that he could see her profile.

"You come anywhere near someone I love again and you will see exactly what I have in me. And, I promise, it's gonna be the last thing you see."

She didn't bother to close the door.


	15. Chapter 15

"OK, Henry, wait in the truck," Charming started to get out when the boy suddenly grabbed his arm.

"No, don't make me wait here. Please? He is my friend. I wanna help! Operation Fluffy was my idea! I told mom that she should use us, that we can help her rescue Killian," pleaded the kid.

Charming opened his mouth and sensing the refusal, Henry kept going.

"Gramps, come on! Please, please?" he looked at the older man with desperate eyes. "Killian is family and you know it! So how would you feel, if someone told you to stay put while your family was in danger?"

"I would tell them to go to hell!" answered Charming without hesitation, cringing in the next moment. "Don't tell Snow and Emma I said that in front of you."

"Please," Henry rolled his eyes. "We do have cable, you know?"

"Yeah, well, that's beside the point," he sighed, giving the boy a testing look. "Fine, you can help."

"Really?" Henry beamed at him, literally bouncing on his seat.

"Yeah," replied his grandfather, the wheels in his head already turning. "I will need you to distract Regina while I find a way to go in and search for Killian."

"I can show you where to enter from," said the boy eagerly and Charming opened his mouth to protest. "It would be a lot easier than you going in circles around the house for who knows how long."

The prince stared into the boys challenging eyes. He gave a frustrated grunt. He hated it when the kids outsmarted him. Though it did make him kind of proud.

* * *

Emma hadn't made more than ten steps when she felt the need to rush back and agree to everything Gold wanted her to do. Sure she could stand her ground in the heat of the moment but the minute she had the time to think, she realized that just because her dad knew where Killian was, it didn't mean that he could get him out. And what if they were wrong? What if it _was_ Belle holding him? Or someone they didn't even know was here? What if Gold had lied to her to begin with and was now opening his backdoor and preparing to do something to Killian that she didn't even want to imagine?

The sheriff whirled around.

_Get a grip, lass. You've got this. I believe in you._

Yeah, well, it would have been nice if she believed in herself too.

_You'll find me. I know you will._

At least she wasn't only doubting herself. She was also talking to herself. Wonderful.

With one last look at the door of Gold's shop, which was still gaping open, she turned around and started running. She was not gonna be bested by fairytale villains.

* * *

"Henry?" Regina's face split into a smile when she saw the boy at her door. "What are you doing here? Is everything ok?"

"Sure," replied Henry, brushing past her and walking inside. "Can't I just stop by?"

"Of course you can! Any time you want," she was so overjoyed to have him there, it almost made the kid forget what she had done. "How about I make you something to eat and we can watch a movie or something?"

"Sounds good," said Henry, listening carefully for any sounds that Charming might produce in his haste to find Killian.

* * *

Prince Charming was lost. He had checked Regina's and Henry's bedrooms and had found absolutely nothing, and now he was desperately trying to find the way to the basement. He had been in enough tough spots in the Enchanted Forest and watched enough thriller movies in Storybrooke to know that almost everything sinister happened in the bad guy's basement. Now if he only had a map.

* * *

"What do you say to Return of the Jedi? I know it's your favourite," said Regina, pouring Henry a glass of juice.

"Already saw that with Killian earlier this week," the kid slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized what he had said.

"Who's Killian?" asked the mayor, turning around to stare at her son.

"N-no one. Just… just a friend," but the boy knew he was already caught and suddenly the feelings of betrayal and disappointment welled up inside him. "How could you do this? Why? You were doing so well!"

"Henry! What are you talking about I haven't done anything!" Regina tried to defend herself, eyes wide with confusion.

"You are holding him captive!"

"I'm not holding anyo-" realization suddenly washed over her face. "The kitten? The kitten I'm keeping for Rumpelstiltskin is your friend?"

"Yes!"

"Henry, I didn't know! I didn't know it had anything to do with you. He asked me to do him a favour," Regina finally dropped her gaze, twisting her fingers nervously. "Having Rumpelstiltskin own you is just too good an opportunity to pass."

She looked up into Henry's disappointed eyes.

"I'll give him to you!" she said earnestly.

"You will?" he asked in disbelief, a hopeful expression taking over his face.

"Of course!" exclaimed Regina, crouching down in front of him.

Suddenly a loud bang echoed through the house.

Henry cringed and the darkhaired woman narrowed her eyes.

"Let me guess," she said. "Our stand-up sheriff is banging her way through my basement?"

"No," came Emma's voice as she emerged in the doorway, looking flustered and determined. "But she will, if she has to."

"Not exactly in accordance with the law, Miss Swan," sneered Regina, standing up and stepping in front of Henry.

"Screw the law," the blonde spat out, her badge skidding across the floor in the next moment. "I want my kitten back."

Henry grinned proudly, running over to stay next to Emma, crossing his arms in front of his chest in a perfect imitation of her pose.

A hint of pain washed over Regina's face at having Henry leave her side but in the next second it was gone and she was rolling her eyes.

"Quit being a drama queen and pick up your badge, sheriff. I already told Henry I was gonna give him the furball back," a curse came from somewhere below them. "I believe this is your idiot of a father, burning himself, trying to be all heroic, so shall we?"

* * *

_Yeah, that's what I was trying to tell you, mate._

Killian stared at Charming who was waving his burned hand around, trying to shake off the pain.

Someone clearing their throat made them both turn their gaze towards the door.

Regina stood in the doorway of the basement, hands on her hips. She flicked on the light, forcing both the prince and the pirate to shut their eyes and struggle to adjust to the light.

"You could have just asked me for a flashlight," she said sarcastically.

Charming was just reaching for his gun when Henry jumped in front of his step-mother, Emma emerging with him

"Hey, hey, it's ok. She is letting us take Killian home."

_She is?!_

"She is?!" Charming blinked a few times in disbelief.

"Yes, she is," replied Regina exasperatedly. "As long as you can get him out of that, he's all yours."

"The cage?" asked Emma, coming forward and sinking to her knees in front of the golden prison. "Hey."

_It's about bloody time, lass._

"Sorry, it took me a while to figure it out."

_Ah, well, you're worth the wait._

"Rumpelstiltskin made it," continued Regina, oblivious to the conversation going on. "Even I cannot touch it without burning myself."

Emma reached over staring into the pair of blue eyes in front of her, two distressed voices and one meow trying to warn her of. But her hand just passed through the bars, as if they were a mere illusion.

"Wow!" Henry took a step back as Charming and Regina watched in obvious confusion.

"Doesn't that hurt you?" asked the prince, still rubbing his burned fingers.

"No," replied Emma, without looking at him, her gaze locked with the pirate's. "It's just kind of warm and tingly."

She blinked and suddenly she felt the heat escalate. She flinched at the burning sensation. Killian hissed but her eyes were already open and boring into his once again.

"It's ok, it's ok," whispered the blonde, more to herself than anyone else. "Just don't take your eyes off me, ok?"

He grinned at her.

_I would despair if I did._

"Now," Emma wrapped her fingers around him, stroking his fur, a smile taking over her whole face. "Just make yourself as small as possible ok?"

_Well, never thought I'd hear that from a woman._

"Stop being a smartass and keep away from the bars," she whispered as she started moving her hand along with him, making sure her fingers were wherever his body might touch the cage.

Killian felt his tail start to burn but in the next second he was completely out and Emma was squeezing the life out of him, hugging him to her chest.

_Definitely his knight in shining armor. _


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: This is it, guys, the last one. Hope you enjoyed the ride at least half as much as I did. :)) Here's to kitty!killian! *g* I might get around to writing an epilogue in a few days, if you'd like one. :)

* * *

Emma fell on her bed, blissfully closing her eyes and sighing in contentment. She loved her family, she loved that they loved Killian but she had to admit that she was happy to finally be able to slip away and take a much-needed breath.

"I think I can live without drama for a few years," she murmured, turning her head to the side to eye the kitten that had just settled on the pillow next to her. "What do you say?"

_Why, Swan, are you including me in your long-term plans now?_

"I mean, y-you know," she quickly looked away, the slightest blush creeping up her cheeks.

Why was it that she could face down the most powerful wizards but put her next to someone she actually gave a fuck about and she was worried about every little thing that might pass through her lips?

"You must be tired, after centuries of running around, fighting tooth and nail for everything."

_Life's not nearly as interesting when you're standing still, Emma. And there are some things that I'd sure as hell fight tooth and nail for right now._

Killian stared at the girl next to him. He was still having trouble believing that once he had been out of his cage his first reaction hadn't been to chase down Rumpelstiltskin. It had been to make sure that Henry and Emma were ok. He had always known that revenge wasn't exactly something that can make a person happy. It was an end, not a beginning. But he was just now realizing how truly hollow it was. Real enough, but empty on the inside. He still wanted to end Rumpelstiltskin but it wasn't just about doing the deed anymore. It was about protecting the people that mattered most to him. He hadn't had that in a very, very long time. Someone who was above everything else. Someone you would fight for, do everything for, just to give them what they want, what they need.

_Even if it means giving up what you wanted. Because now, all you truly want is them._

His eyes roamed over her face. All he wanted was to make her smile, to make her laugh, to make her moan and to make her blissfully happy.

_Fuck. Wanna be able to do everything for her._

But he wasn't. He was a damn cat and all he could do was meow and purr.

Suddenly he felt a hand pulling him closer and he snuggled under Emma's chin.

"We were worried, you know?" she said, trying to sound cross but coming out distressed.

He nodded.

_I know, lass. Been a long time since someone was worried about me but the good things you remember quickly._

Killian knew she cared, knew her whole family did. And he was feeling like a selfish bastard because he still wanted more. He wanted it all.

"I can let you go," she murmured into his fur, sounding like she was trying to convince herself of the truth of that statement more than anyone else.

And he knew this wasn't just her suggesting to loosen her tight grip on him. If he wanted to go, she was going to let him. He could return to the Enchanted Forest, he could explore this new world, he could go after Rumpelstiltskin again. Suddenly, he realized he was tired of chasing the unknown simply because he was scared of what was real and right in front of him. He loved the sea, he always would, but it had been an escape for too long.

_You never know where the waves will take you._

It was easier to keep chasing the sunset than to take the chance of standing on the hard ground. Now, for the first time, he was offered that chance. It was easier to dedicate your life to the memory of love rather than risk finding it again. And to hell with everything, he wanted to earn a chance at that too. There were many things that Killian Jones was, but a coward was not one of them.

_Never took the easy way out, mate, don't start now._

He shook his head, his whiskers tickling the side of Emma's neck.

_Don't want you to let go, luv._

"Good," she closed her eyes and bent her head, planting a soft kiss on the top of his head.

Then she was blinded even though her eyes were tightly shut. She was blinded by emotion. Light filled her room, so bright, so warm. She felt everything at once. Every single thing she had chased and dreamed of but never believed she would have. Peace, safety, belonging, passion, tenderness, home. Love.

Emma gasped as a tear slipped down her cheek and a warm finger, which did not belong to her, wiped it away.

"Emma," a voice she had doubted she would ever hear again caressed her ears, lips brushing her earlobe. "Look at me."

She shook her head and Killian pulled away, frowning.

Emma wanted nothing more than to open her eyes but she wasn't ready. How could she ever be ready? She knew the plus side of having nothing. It was that you also had nothing to lose. And she knew that the second she opened her eyes she would get her chance at everything, her one and only chance. And she was damn near terrified. Which, when it came to Emma Swan, was really saying something.

"I'm not gonna go away until you open those beautiful eyes, lass."

"Good," she grumbled under her breath.

It would be a challenge to say the least, never getting to look at his gorgeous face, into his oh-so-blue eyes. But she could do it, if that was what it took for him to remain where he was. She too loved a challenge.

"I'm starting to get offended here, Swan," there was teasing in his voice but underneath it lay a note of nervousness and doubt. "After so long, I thought you wouldn't be able to get enough of my devilishly handsome self."

She hadn't known if it was possible for a person to roll their eyes while they were closed until that moment. Turned out it was.

"I'm giving you a chance to make a break for it," she said, trying to keep her tone light, as if she didn't care either way.

"Yes, I believe I should. It _is_ rather horrible, being in a warm bed with a beautiful woman who is just a t-shirt and a pair of panties away from being completely naked."

"You're not getting me naked," she stated, frowning at him.

"Never said I was, lass. But it's good to know what your mind is on."

She could literally hear the grin in his voice.

"Jackass," she muttered under her breath.

"If you open your eyes, I promise to be a perfect gentleman. Not that I'm ever not one but I'll try extra hard," he teased, cupping her chin and rubbing little circles on it with his thumb.

She could even feel the cool metal of his rings against her skin. Hook was definitely back. Or…

Emma reached blindly, feeling with her fingers until she came in contact with his hook.

"Careful with that, lass," he warned her, his voice a bit strained.

Did he hate having it back? Had he missed it?

"So?" his voice was way too light. "You prefer the kitten with all appendages intact or the slightly lacking human version?"

And just like that Emma's eyes snapped open, meeting his blue gaze.

"I don't care," she whispered, her face absolutely serious. "I think I've changed my mind."

Killian's fingers, which were still caressing her face, froze with the rest of him.

_Should have known it was too good to be true, Jones._

"Turns out I'll probably take you even as a cockroach," she grinned at him.

The pirate opened his mouth to respond but suddenly Emma was all around him. Her lips pressed to his, one hand tangling in his hair while the other tugged on his hook and settled his arm around her waist, her body moved towards his as if pulled by a magnet, her feet tangling with his own.

His hand had drifted to her neck and soon his lips released hers to follow it.

"Killian."

He moaned in pure pleasure. He hadn't heard that name in over three centuries, kitty time aside, and he had certainly never heard it spoken like this. She didn't say it, she breathed life to it. Much like she had done with him.

"Oh God," Killian pulled her even closer, squeezing her so tight he was afraid he might hurt her but couldn't stop himself. "Emma. Love."

She returned the embrace, holding on to him, then she turned her face to the side, kissing his collarbone, his neck, his ear, his cheek. Emma pulled back in order to reach his nose. By the time she was kissing his closed eyelids he was laughing softly beneath his breath.

_You're gonna wake up any time now, mate. You're gonna wake up and still be chained up on top of that freaking beanstalk, or wandering the Enchanted Forest in the body of a helpless kitten._

"Wait. How did I change back?" he asked, pulling back to look the blonde in the eyes.

Emma bit her bottom lip, letting her eyes settle on his chest and starting to draw random patterns that her gaze followed with great interest.

"I think it had something to do with that sappy crap about you being my true love and all that?" she glanced up at his shock-filled eyes. "I've heard that's how it works. Curse. Kiss. Happily ever after."

Killian wasn't sure how exactly to express what he was feeling. It was like being drunk and all light-headed and warm. Only he was pretty sure he was going to love the hangover, knew exactly what was happening and was just having a hard time believe that it was happening to _him_. But he was a pirate, he wasn't about to give back the greatest treasure he had ever laid his eyes on just because he didn't deserve it. He was gonna fight for it, keep it safe and take care of it until he did end up being worthy.

"You're completely naked!" exclaimed Emma as her hands wondered a little further down his body, a gentle blush making itself known on her cheeks.

"You just realizing that, huh?" he grinned down at her and waggled his eyebrows.

This information he knew exactly what to do with.

"You're a very bad kitten."

"Well, let's see if I can do something to earn myself some brownie points, yeah?"

"You better, if you want me to ever break out the catnip again."

Killian rolled Emma onto her back, smiling deviously down at her.

"Oh, love, I'm gonna introduce you to your own brand of catnip," he purred.

Emma lifted an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Cocky and cheesy. How can I resist?" she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to pull him closer.

Killian stopped a millimeter away from her mouth.

"You can't."

And neither could he.

"So just enjoy the happily ever after."


	17. Epilogue

Emma stirred her hot chocolate and hummed an unknown tune under her breath. She had always hated Sundays. It was the day when everyone stayed in, snuggling with their partner til noon, making the kids pancakes and sitting around all day, watching reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. It had been the day she felt most alone, trying to throw herself into some sort of work while the whole world enjoyed its day off. She used to scowl at all those people. Now she was one of them. And it brought a smile to her face.

She cast her eyes over the living room. Three wooden swords could be spotted in various places, "Hook" with Robin Williams lay on the coffee table(Henry had shown Killian another of this world's versions of him last night) next to a couple of empty bags of chips, the kid's shoes were forgotten on the floor, Killian's denim jacket - on the couch (Emma thanked her lucky stars that he had taken to denim almost as if it was leather, which she still loved on him, but it wasn't exactly everyday wear). Dozens of drawings of fairytale land that her father kept making for Henry were scattered everywhere and most of the living room was taken up by the enormous model of a pirate ship that Killian had bought for her son and that the boys had been assembling for almost a week now.

Emma was secretly in love with the mess around her.

She had always kept everything neat and in place. She had moved constantly and often in a rush. She hadn't been able to allow herself the luxury of leaving a mess and there had been no one else to do so.

No way had she imagined that one day she would actually enjoy picking after her boys. But then again, many of Emma's ideas about life had been defied recently. She had always thought that love would be hard. After Neal she had decided that there were no happy endings, just a rough present that you had to struggle with each day. Even after coming to Storybrooke, even after breaking the curse, she had thought that love was pain and suffering and constant fighting and it just the idea of it had made her bones ache. Then a little furball had turned her whole world upside down. OK, so he hadn't been a furball in over an year now but the whole rearranging of Emma's world view had started long before Killian had gotten rid of his tail.

Now she could finally see that love wasn't hard. Not with him. She never had to fear that he would hurt her because she knew that he would sooner walk his own plank than betray her or their family. Yeah, it was their family because any fighting was done together, holding on to each other and facing the world outside. Truthfully, she had expected the two of them to fight constantly, yet the most serious thing they ever yelled at each other for was who had left the towel on the bathroom floor. And he rarely pleaded innocent. Much as she would have liked to write that down to their perfect compatibility or something like that she knew that it all came down to one simple fact. This just meant too much to both of them. No one was willing to blow this chance, to risk losing what they had been searching for for years. There was no screaming and throwing of dishes, no slamming of doors, let alone running away, between her and Killian. It wasn't how they operated. If someone told her that meant they weren't passionate enough she would gladly invite them to her bedroom some night. Only she won't actually, because she didn't give a shit what anyone thought. They knew perfectly well where to direct their passion.

Two strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"Now you are humming pirate shanties, Swan? I believe my job is finally done."

Her eyes widened a little when she finally recognized the tune too.

"Well, it must be a certain captain's terrible influence. Nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Sleeping Beauty," she grinned.

"Well, if you wanted me up and about, lass, I believe you know quite a few ways of waking me that have proven very effective in the past," he gently bit down on her bare shoulder. "Is there some food left after that hurricane you call a family or shall I eat you instead?"

"Breakfast? It almost 3 o'clock, buddy. You will have to satisfy yourself with leftover pizza," she said, trying to sound as unaffected by the hand trailing down her tight as possible. Which wasn't much.

"How about," he spun her around and lifted her on top of the countertop, knocking a bowl full of apples and oranges to the floor. "I settle for satisfying you."

Emma arched a delicate eyebrow.

"And who says you are capable of doing that?"

He grinned at her. Her pirate indeed loved a challenge.

"You do. Every. Single. Night." His voice drifted away from her as he dropped down to his knees on the floor.

"Oh," Emma tried to get a hold on her breathing. "I-I don't remember ever saying that."

Killian handled her belt with practiced ease and a single hand, while his hook trailed up and down her right leg.

"No, you just like to agree with me a lot. And let the neighbours know my name," he smirked up at her. "And do some heavy praying."

"Oh, shut up and-"

Her words were cut off by the sound of a key being inserted in the lock. Oh, yes, Emma and Killian had learned to lock all doors that could be locked after Henry had announced that he thought he needed to start seeing doctor Hopper again.

By the time Charming entered the apartment Emma had snapped her belt back in place and Killian was biting into an apple, while pushing the plastic bowl filled with the rest so that it was exactly in the centre of the counter.

"Ready to go?" asked Charming, looking at the pirate without any suspicion.

They had definitely mastered the 'avoid being caught in action' dance. It had taken some time but they had decided that her parents were too young for heart attacks.

"Oh, sure," Killian's eyes lit up with excitement, which Emma thought she should be insulted by, considering how quickly he had forgetten that they had been in the middle of something rather exciting too. "Let me just put on something I don't mind getting dirty. Or rather, something Emma wouldn't mind me getting dirty."

The pirate winked at her, running up the stairs to changes out of his brand new jeans.

"Where are you guys going now?" she turned to her father with a slight frown.

"On the Roger to get some last minute work done," she could have sworn that prince Charming was bouncing a little. "You all packed?"

"Please. Snow checked if I had taken every possible thing a human being can need. Three times," she rolled her eyes, her parents could be worse than Henry and Killian at times. "All ready."

There was just the hint of a pout of her father's face. Just enough to make her groan.

"For the last time, I'm sorry you can't come but there's nothing to be done about it," she said as Killian came down the stairs and grabbed his jacket.

"Come on, mate, getting the ship ready is half the fun. We're gonna break out the maps, settle on a route," said the captain, patting the prince on the back.

Charming straightened up, coughing a little and trying to pretend that he wasn't as excited as Henry about going on board the Jolly Roger.

"I swear," said Emma as Killian ran up to her, giving her a quick kis. "Sometimes I wonder if my dad doesn't love you more than I do."

"You wonder?" both men said at the same time, shit-eating grins in place.

Emma aimed an orange at the pirate's head but he just caught it and winked at her.

"Why, thank you, lass. I can always count on you to make sure I don't go hungry" he walked out of the door only to poke his head back in. "10 o'clock sharp or I'm sailing off without you."

The next orange ended up splattered all over the door.

* * *

Snow hugged her for the tenth time.

"We're gonna miss you all so much," she said.

"I know," Emma smiled at her. "I know, mom. But it's just a month. You two can enjoy some quality time without making up for not scarring me for life during my childhood."

Snow started blushing but her eyes caught sight of Killian welcoming an overly excited Henry on board his ship and she smirked at her daughter.

"You're one to talk!"

Emma's jaw dropped, her eyes incredulous as her mother laughed at her.

"Come on, honey!" Snow shouted as she spotted Charming on deck too. "Playtime is over."

The prince joined them on the dock, mumbling something under his breath. He enveloped Emma in a bone-crushing hug.

"Ok, ok," she managed to gasp out. "I'll miss you guys too."

She smiled, turning around to get on the ship, but stopping after a couple of steps. She bit her lip then ran back, kissing both her parents on the cheeks before finally joining Killian and Henry on the Jolly Roger.

"22:15," she said, taking Killian's hand and stepping onto the ship. "I believe you should have sailed off by now, Captain."

"I should have. You are disobeying my orders already, Miss Swan."

"Come on, guys!" yelled Henry from bow, eager to set sail.

"You heard my first mate, love," Killian settled behind the helm.

"Oh, so he is your first mate, huh?"

"Of course, I am," Henry ran up to her. "Don't worry, I'll let you sit in the crow's nest."

Killian set the ship on the course he and Charming had decided on before joining them and wrapping her arms around Emma.

"And I'll give you a tour of the captain's quarters," he whispered in her ear.

Emma slapped half-heartedly at his hands, which were resting over her abdomen.

"We'll see who's the captain in there," she threatened with a challenging smile, grabbing his chin and kissing him hard.

"OK, can I steer the ship whenever you guys are being all gross and stuff?" asked Henry with an eye-roll.

"Sure you can, lad," replied Killian before tangling his hand in Emma's hair and pulling her closer once more.

Henry bounced over to the helm, grinning from ear to ear.

"And Gramps said I wouldn't be the one sailing the ship all the time."


End file.
